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Date:      Wed, 30 Sep 1998 20:46:43 +0200 (CEST)
From:      Wilko Bulte <wilko@yedi.iaf.nl>
To:        karl@denninger.net (Karl Denninger)
Cc:        stox@enteract.com, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Exabyte 8500 in low density (2GB) mode... How?
Message-ID:  <199809301846.UAA01817@yedi.iaf.nl>
In-Reply-To: <19980929223911.A2555@Denninger.Net> from Karl Denninger at "Sep 29, 98 10:39:11 pm"

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As Karl Denninger wrote...
> On Tue, Sep 29, 1998 at 10:08:51PM -0500, Kenneth P. Stox wrote:
> > 
> > On Tue, 29 Sep 1998, Karl Denninger wrote:
> > 
> > > I don't believe an 8500 CAN write 8200 format.
> > > 
> > > It can READ 8200 format, but not write it.  There are differences in track
> > > density and head gap size, and as such I don't believe this is even
> > > physically possible.
> > 
> > An 8500 can write in 8200 density just fine. Reliably reading that tape on
> > an 8200 is another question entirely. The 8500 writes a far narrower track
> > than the 8200. 

Reliability with Exabytes in it's own right is enough stuff for a Phd 
thesis anyway ;-)

> > Although this represents a challenge, it is not impossible. If the tape
> > has never been used on an 8200, and then written on the 8500, chances are
> > it will work. However, if the tape had previously been written on an 8200,
> > the 8500 will never completely erase the data left in the wider tracks by
> > the 8200. When this tape is then written on the 8500 ( in 8200 density )
> > and mounted on an 8200, the 8200 can become confused by the "old" data
> > left on the outside of the narrower tracks.
> > 
> > -Ken Stox
> >  stox@enteract.com
> >  stox@fnal.gov
> 
> In other words:
> 
> Bulk erase the tape, write it, and then immediately read it on the 8200.
> 
> That's what I thought.  Interchange was a problem.

Residual data 'just outside' the 8500 trackwidth can indeed be a problem.
Although I myself had reasonable good luck with 8200 (at home) and
8505 (at work) interchanges. 

Wilko
_     ______________________________________________________________________
 |   / o / /  _  Bulte 				  email: wilko@yedi.iaf.nl 
 |/|/ / / /( (_) Arnhem, The Netherlands          WWW  : http://www.tcja.nl
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