hansb@svin02.info.win.tue.nl (Hans Bouw) (02/22/91)
Hello there, Does anyone know if the Sony p5-90MP video-8 tapes are reliable, can I restore files from those tapes after 2 years or should I use tapes from Maxell or Exabyte. If you have any experience with these tapes or if you have seen test, please let me know. thanks, Hans Bouw, Thechnische Universiteit Eindhoven (Holland) E-Mail: hansb@win.tue.nl
pavlov@canisius.UUCP (Greg Pavlov) (02/25/91)
In article <1781@svin02.info.win.tue.nl>, hansb@svin02.info.win.tue.nl (Hans Bouw) writes: > > Does anyone know if the Sony p5-90MP video-8 tapes > are reliable, can I restore files from those tapes > after 2 years or should I use tapes from Maxell or > Exabyte. A while ago, someone posted a long summary message of responses to a similar query. This included a site that claimed to have done a substantial stress test comparing a number of 8MM cartridges. The consensus was that the most reliable tapes were Exabyte's and SONY P6-120MPs. Re the latter, there was a consensus that 1 out of apx. every 40-50 cartridges or so were found to be defective. Our relatively short-term experience (apx. 7 months) has con- firmed this. pavlov@stewart.fstrf.org
braun@dri.com (Kral) (02/26/91)
In article <3235@canisius.UUCP> pavlov@canisius.UUCP (Greg Pavlov) writes: >In article <1781@svin02.info.win.tue.nl>, hansb@svin02.info.win.tue.nl (Hans Bouw) writes: >> >> Does anyone know if the Sony p5-90MP video-8 tapes >> are reliable, can I restore files from those tapes >> after 2 years or should I use tapes from Maxell or >> Exabyte. > > ... > The consensus was that the most > reliable tapes were Exabyte's and SONY P6-120MPs. Re the latter, there was > a consensus that 1 out of apx. every 40-50 cartridges or so were found to > be defective. Our relatively short-term experience (apx. 7 months) has con- > firmed this. As an aside: we noted that the difference in price between P6s and P5, compared with the "grey" cost of keeping an inventory of two different kinds of tapes (one for large volume, one for small) was insignificant enough to just use one (P6) kind of tape for all uses. -- kral * 408/647-6112 * ...!uunet!drivax!braun * braun@dri.com The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny ..." -- Isaac Asimov
sdesmara@sobeco.com (s.desmarais) (02/28/91)
>In article <3235@canisius.UUCP> pavlov@canisius.UUCP (Greg Pavlov) writes: >>In article <1781@svin02.info.win.tue.nl>, hansb@svin02.info.win.tue.nl (Hans Bouw) writes: >>> >>> Does anyone know if the Sony p5-90MP video-8 tapes >>> are reliable, can I restore files from those tapes >>> after 2 years or should I use tapes from Maxell or >>> Exabyte. >> >> ... >> The consensus was that the most >> reliable tapes were Exabyte's and SONY P6-120MPs. Re the latter, there was >> a consensus that 1 out of apx. every 40-50 cartridges or so were found to >> be defective. Our relatively short-term experience (apx. 7 months) has con- >> firmed this. Speaking of reliability, I'd like to know what is the reliability and the durability of the exabyte media. What will happen in 15 years when I want to restore files from exabytes? (Recently, we restored a 14 years old file from a 9-track tape.) We are rusing tapes for the incremental daily backups. Is there a limit to the number of times we can reuse exabyte tapes? What are the environmental constraint to respect as to the storage of exabyte tapes? Also, do you think that the "exabyte" peripheral will be around for a long time, or will we have to recopy all our archives to a new medium 3 years from now? Is there any comparative study that was done on the reliability of the different media available (the ol' 9-track, exabytes, streamers, worm disks/laser disks, etc). If so, could you point me to one? That's about all my questions for now. Maybe more latter. -- Stephane M. Desmarais sdesmara@sobeco.com Division STS - Groupe Sobeco Inc. {uunet | mcgill-vision}!sobeco.com!sdesmara 505 boul Rene-Levesque Ouest bur: (514) 878-9090 poste 297 Montreal, Quebec CANADA H2Z 1Y7 fax: (514) 875-2673 dom: (514) 733-3245
braun@dri.com (Kral) (03/01/91)
In article <1991Feb27.191216.5859@sobeco.com> sdesmara@sobeco.com (s.desmarais) writes: >Speaking of reliability, I'd like to know what is the reliability and the >durability of the exabyte media. What will happen in 15 years when I want >to restore files from exabytes? (Recently, we restored a 14 years old file >from a 9-track tape.) My advice: you should always "check" any wound, streaming magnetic media at least every 24 months. By this I mean at least rewinding the tape, but possibly rewriting it as well. Otherwise, you stand the chance of the data bleeding onto the next layer of tape and causing parity problems. Yes, I've recovered data off of 7 year old 9 track tapes. I've also had unrecoverable parity errors on 2 year old tape. I suspect the 8mm media hasn't been around long enough to establish any kind of track record, so we play it safe and plan on rewriting tapes every 24 months. -- kral * 408/647-6112 * ...!uunet!drivax!braun * braun@dri.com The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny ..." -- Isaac Asimov
ajj@ecs.soton.ac.uk (Andy Jackson) (03/01/91)
In <1781@svin02.info.win.tue.nl> hansb@svin02.info.win.tue.nl (Hans Bouw) writes: >Hello there, >Does anyone know if the Sony p5-90MP video-8 tapes >are reliable, can I restore files from those tapes >after 2 years or should I use tapes from Maxell or >Exabyte. >If you have any experience with these tapes or if >you have seen test, please let me know. >thanks, >Hans Bouw, >Thechnische Universiteit Eindhoven (Holland) >E-Mail: hansb@win.tue.nl Hi, SUN tell me to use only real exabyte exatapes with my drives. The people we buy our tapes from have sent us sony p5-90mp tapes when we asked for exatapes and we have also had a drive delivered with a blank sony tape instead of an exatape. On this evidence I believe the sony tapes to be OK. Maxells you are supposed to avoid as they wear out the heads. We do tend to have a tape turn around of only about 3-6 months however but the sony tapes have given no probs. :-) Andy Jackson ajj@uk.ac.soton.ecs University of Southampton UK.
mwtilden@watmath.waterloo.edu (Mark W. Tilden) (03/04/91)
In article <WRPYTPB@dri.com> braun@dri.com (Kral) writes: >In article <1991Feb27.191216.5859@sobeco.com> sdesmara@sobeco.com (s.desmarais) writes: >>Speaking of reliability, I'd like to know what is the reliability and the >>durability of the exabyte media. What will happen in 15 years when I want >>to restore files from exabytes? (Recently, we restored a 14 years old file >>from a 9-track tape.) > >My advice: you should always "check" any wound, streaming magnetic media at >least every 24 months. By this I mean at least rewinding the tape, but >possibly rewriting it as well. Otherwise, you stand the chance of the data >bleeding onto the next layer of tape and causing parity problems. > Basing the lifetime of Exabyte media against it's immediate video counterpart means that you can expect a lifetime of at least 25 years or 600 play/rewinds before the tape looses the 7dB signal loss which will result in fatal restore errors. This does not take into account scratches or tape folds that can be introduced to the tape by faulty or wearing tape mechanisms (a real problem as current Exabyte units only last approx 1000 running hours before they become tape 'hostile'). Modern 8mm tape, especially the high-metal variety used in Exabytes, actually has very low magnetic bleedthrough in comparison to other video formats like beta and especially VHS, because of the extreme density and uniformity of the metal crystals, and superior seperation between tape layers by a tape backing as thick as the magnetic media itself. Exabyte tapes are so reliable in fact that you could hold them to your filing cabinet with a (appropriately sized) fridge magnet and still be fairly sure of getting your data back (No warrenties expressed or implied). The biggest danger is mechanical wear or damage. The less you play a tape, the better off it'll be, at least until Exabyte starts using improved Hi8 video mechanisms in their product. So the answer is you're in pretty good shape if you back up every two years or leave your tape on a shelf for twenty. The biggest danger will be if there'll be anything to read your quaint 'tape' come the year 2010. It should be safe enough until r/w diskmans come onto the scene. Is all. -- Mark Tilden: _-_-_-__--__--_ /(glitch!) M.F.C.F Hardware Design Lab. -_-___ | \ /\/ U of Waterloo. Ont. Can, N2L-3G1 |__-_-_-| \/ (519) - 885 - 1211 ext.2454, "MY OPINIONS, YOU HEAR!? MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE! AH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
brianc@labmed.ucsf.edu (Brian Colfer) (03/06/91)
In article <1991Feb27.191216.5859@sobeco.com> sdesmara@sobeco.com (s.desmarais) writes: >>In article <1781@svin02.info.win.tue.nl>, hansb@svin02.info.win.tue.nl (Hans Bouw) writes: >> ... #>> The consensus was that the most reliable tapes were Exabyte's and #>> SONY P6-120MPs. Re the latter, there was a consensus that 1 out of #>> apx. every 40-50 cartridges or so were found to be defective. Our #>> relatively short-term experience (apx. 7 months) has con- firmed this. >Is there any comparative study that was done on the reliability of the >different media available (the ol' 9-track, exabytes, streamers, >worm disks/laser disks, etc). If so, could you point me to one? Especially DAT... sinice this is the most comparable subsystem to the Exabyte... -- Brian Colfer | UC San Francisco |------------------------| | Dept. of Lab. Medicine | System Administrator, | brianc@labmed.ucsf.edu | S.F. CA, 94143-0134 USA | Programer/Analyst | BRIANC@UCSFCCA.BITNET | PH. (415) 476-2325 |------------------------|
slootman@dri.nl (Paul Slootman) (03/06/91)
Someone said: (I'm afraid I didn't get the original, we're new to news) > The consensus was that the most reliable tapes were Exabyte's and > SONY P6-120MPs. Re the latter, there was a consensus that 1 out of > apx. every 40-50 cartridges or so were found to be defective. Our > relatively short-term experience (apx. 7 months) has con- firmed this. I've heard this before. I only wonder whether defective tapes are detected right away, or only after having been used for some time. I prefer the first... Paul. slootman@dri.nl ...!hp4nl!dri500!slootman
nsoley@.com (Norman Soley) (03/07/91)
In article <929@dri500.dri.nl> slootman@dri.nl (Paul Slootman) writes: >Someone said: (I'm afraid I didn't get the original, we're new to news) >> The consensus was that the most reliable tapes were Exabyte's and >> SONY P6-120MPs. Re the latter, there was a consensus that 1 out of >> apx. every 40-50 cartridges or so were found to be defective. Our >> relatively short-term experience (apx. 7 months) has con- firmed this. > >I've heard this before. I only wonder whether defective tapes are >detected right away, or only after having been used for some time. I >prefer the first... I've been told that there are differences in the mechanical contruction inside the cartridge between D8 tapes and "regular" 8mm video tapes and that the video tapes can break internally under very light shocks and that this is the reason the failure rate when these are used as data tapes. It is also worth pointing out that both Sony and Maxell are selling D8 type tapes, they cost about twice what the P6-120MPs cost but I've yet to have one jam. Norman Soley - Systems Administrator - Oracle Corporation Canada 155 University Ave. Suite 400 Toronto, Ontario (416)-362-7953 X646 nsoley@cnseq1.oracle.com uunet!torsqnt!cnseq1!nsoley "These opinions are mine, not the company's"