Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 11:17:41 +1030 From: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> To: Stunt Pope <markjr@shmOOze.net> Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: support for HP SureStore DAT8 Tape Drives? Message-ID: <19980128111741.34757@lemis.com> In-Reply-To: <XFMail.980127124212.markjr@shmOOze.net>; from Stunt Pope on Tue, Jan 27, 1998 at 12:25:54PM -0500 References: <XFMail.980127124212.markjr@shmOOze.net>
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I've taken -hardware off the reply list. -questions will give you better coverage. On Tue, Jan 27, 1998 at 12:25:54PM -0500, Stunt Pope wrote: > > Someone I know has ordered an HP SureStore DAT8 external tape drive for > backup purposes on a few FreeBSD 2.2.2 boxes he's setting up. > > Since I'll be the guy hooking it up I thought I'd ask a couple questions: > > First off, does FreeBSD support these drives? (that's kind of > important) > > and if so: > > Looking at the HP datasheet (www.hp.com/tape/datasheets/dat8.html) > we have: > > C1529H HP SureStore DAT8e - 8 GB* external DAT drive for PC > C1552B HP SureStore DAT8eU - 8 GB* external DAT drive for UNIX > > He ordered the C1529H/DAT8e (PC version). I'm wondering how much of > a diff there is between that and the C1552B/DAT8eU (Unix > version). Last HP drive I used (can't remember which) it was simply > a matter of setting the jumpers differently. The part numbers you should be looking at are the C1529H and the C1552B. I don't recognize these part numbers, but they appear to be different drives. They're all DDS-2 with compression, though. "8 GB" is marketing hype. In practice you'll get about 6.5 to 7 GB, depending on your files. > Is there more of a difference with this model (i.e. there's no way > we'll get the DAT8e to work) and therefore the guy should change his > order? I can't see any reason why the C1529H shouldn't work. I've checked out the web page (http://www.hp.com/tape/datasheets/dat8.html), and the only differences seem to be mechanical and electrical. About the only important difference is the MTBF, which is best for the internal version (which you don't mention). The C1529H is noted to work for SCO UNIX, UnixWare and HP-UX, so I can't see any problem with FreeBSD. > While we're on the topic I've also heard that DDS-2 dat tapes have a > very *short* lifespan, i.e. write to them half a dozen times and > you may as well throw them out. Can anyone shed some light on > this? I've been writing to the same DDS-2 tapes twice a week for about 18 months. Some of them are beginning to show higher error rates. BTW, note that DDS-1 tapes (60m and 90m) are *much* cheaper than DDS-2 (120m). You'll get about 3.5 GB on a 90m tape. Greg
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