Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 14:48:45 +0100 (BST) From: Karl Strickland <karl@bagpuss.demon.co.uk> To: Torbjorn Granlund <tege@matematik.su.se> Cc: hackers@freebsd.org, sef@cygnus.com Subject: Re: DAT drive advice needed Message-ID: <199506121348.OAA00725@bagpuss.demon.co.uk> In-Reply-To: <199506112111.VAA15317@insanus.matematik.su.se> from "Torbjorn Granlund" at Jun 11, 95 11:11:08 pm
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>
> Well, I bought a complete system where almost every component had some
> problem, and I had to return both the SCSI controller and the Graphics card
> to get properly working ones. After all that headache, the system now works
> great. The combination Pentium90/Triton/QuantumGPS/FreeBSD 2.0.5- actually
> makes the fastest system I have ever used!
>
> It is time to get a DAT drive, and I'd like to avoid to get another lemon.
>
> I'd like to get a high-quaility DAT drive, and I need to send tapes to
> people and recieve tapes from people. The HP drives vary in capacity a lot,
> but the prices are within a few hundred dollars. So, from that perspective,
> I'd get the 16 Gb drive, for just $1000 at NCA.
>
> But will FreeBSD and the drive be able to write tapes that most older DAT
> drives will be able to read? If not, what drives will allow me to ship
> tapes to others?
>
> Torbjorn
>
Im not an expert on this, but heres what I remember from when I was looking
into this 12 months or so ago. There are 2 DAT encoding formats - DDS1 (or
just DDS) and DDS2. I believe DDS2 drives can also read/write DDS1. The
reasons why the drives vary in capacity are:
1. A drive is capable of DDS2, which can store more per inch
of tape than DDS1.
2. Different length tapes are used. With DDS1 recording, 60m
typically gets you 1.3Gb, 90m gets you 2.0Gb. I believe
DDS2 will let you roughly double that. There are also
120m tapes for use in DDS2 drives which you need for 16Gb.
3. Compression - on drives that have it, it can be turned on
& off via both hardware and software.
In short I believe any top of the range DAT can read any tapes, and
write any tapes. If you want your tapes to be readable by the largest
number of people, you should use the lowest common denominator, which
is probably DDS1 encoding, no compression, 60m tapes.
This is from memory, if its wrong, Im sure someone will correct it :)
--
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Mailed using ELM on FreeBSD | Karl Strickland
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