From owner-freebsd-scsi Sat Sep 6 18:12:11 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) id SAA15535 for freebsd-scsi-outgoing; Sat, 6 Sep 1997 18:12:11 -0700 (PDT) Received: from nico.telstra.net (nico.telstra.net [139.130.204.16]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) with SMTP id SAA15523 for ; Sat, 6 Sep 1997 18:12:06 -0700 (PDT) Received: from freebie.lemis.com (gregl1.lnk.telstra.net [139.130.136.133]) by nico.telstra.net (8.6.10/8.6.10) with ESMTP id LAA11843; Sun, 7 Sep 1997 11:11:29 +1000 Received: (grog@localhost) by freebie.lemis.com (8.8.7/8.6.12) id KAA07129; Sun, 7 Sep 1997 10:41:28 +0930 (CST) Message-ID: <19970907104126.56920@lemis.com> Date: Sun, 7 Sep 1997 10:41:26 +0930 From: Greg Lehey To: Joerg Wunsch Cc: freebsd-scsi@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Is this (SCSI) tape drive compatible with FreeBSD? References: <199708310611.UAA14714@pegasus.com> <19970906102021.YZ35994@uriah.heep.sax.de> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 0.81e In-Reply-To: <19970906102021.YZ35994@uriah.heep.sax.de>; from J Wunsch on Sat, Sep 06, 1997 at 10:20:21AM +0200 Organisation: LEMIS, PO Box 460, Echunga SA 5153, Australia Phone: +61-8-8388-8250 Fax: +61-8-8388-8250 Mobile: +61-41-739-7062 WWW-Home-Page: http://www.lemis.com/~grog Fight-Spam-Now: http://www.cauce.org Sender: owner-freebsd-scsi@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk On Sat, Sep 06, 1997 at 10:20:21AM +0200, J Wunsch wrote: > As Richard Foulk wrote: > >> I suppose you could say that QIC was more robust back when they were >> more widely used and less data was being archived. In today's world >> they're not all that robust when compared to the alternatives. > > QIC still *is* more robust than any helical-scan technology. DAT > being worst, the drives usually don't last longer than 1.5 years when > being used on a daily basis (and this was with the older, better > quality HP drives, the toys that are built these days often don't > survive a couple of months). While I won't question the undeniable unreliability of early HP DDS drives, I can't confirm that they're getting worse. My 37480As all died within about 6 months with only moderate use, and to my extreme disgust my last one, repaired last December at the cost of $200, and only used once since then, has also died again. On the other hand, the Archive DDS-2 autoloader I bought at the same time, and which I use several hours every day, has given me no trouble at all. Neither did my HP C1533A DDS-2 until it got mechanically damaged travelling half way round the world. Greg