Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 12:59:06 -0800 From: Darryl Okahata <darrylo@sr.hp.com> To: mjacob@feral.com Cc: freebsd-scsi@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Travan-20 tape streamer: unit not ready Message-ID: <199903252059.MAA22040@mina.sr.hp.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 25 Mar 1999 12:42:42 PST." <Pine.LNX.4.04.9903251237580.8651-100000@feral-gw>
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Matthew Jacob <mjacob@feral.com> wrote:
> > Oh, I thought he was having problems with a Travan-like drive.
>
> I'm sorry- you're right, but the symptoms are the same!
Yes, that is what's scary. We have two different types of drives,
from two different manufacturers, with very similar problems.
[ Actually, on further thought, it may not be so scary. I think it is
possible that the developers didn't strictly follow the SCSI specs,
but only implemented just enough to get the various PC backup programs
to work. It wouldn't surprise me if these PC backup programs don't
send REWIND, etc. ]
> The CDB for load is very straightforward:
Yes, I have the SCSI doc that talks about the various CDBs. I was
going to try setting the immed bit.
> Man, the
> quality of tape devices is getting worse and worse. I'm almost inclined to
> *not* try and support these devices because if they're this bad, why
> should you trust your data to them?
You could be right, but it's unclear if the quality is suffering.
They may be violating the specs, but if the data reliability is good ....
The jury's still out but, if these drives are reliable, I'd be willing
to live with an ugly userland driver (as long as I can use something to
pipe stuff to and from dump(1)). The price point's just too good.
--
Darryl Okahata
darrylo@sr.hp.com
DISCLAIMER: this message is the author's personal opinion and does not
constitute the support, opinion, or policy of Hewlett-Packard, or of the
little green men that have been following him all day.
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