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Date:      Fri, 17 Dec 1999 20:38:46 -0600
From:      Karl Denninger <karl@Denninger.Net>
To:        Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com>
Cc:        Wilko Bulte <wilko@yedi.iaf.nl>, Warner Losh <imp@village.org>, Soren Schmidt <sos@freebsd.dk>, freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Tape reliability (was: ATAPI tape support - how to format?)
Message-ID:  <19991217203846.A34611@Denninger.Net>
In-Reply-To: <19991218125441.C1108@freebie.lemis.com>; from Greg Lehey on Sat, Dec 18, 1999 at 12:54:42PM %2B1030
References:  <199912130738.IAA28004@freebsd.dk> <199912131731.KAA44607@harmony.village.org> <19991213192545.D636@yedi.iaf.nl> <19991213125520.A567@Denninger.Net> <19991218120832.A1108@freebie.lemis.com> <19991217201910.A34455@Denninger.Net> <19991218125441.C1108@freebie.lemis.com>

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On Sat, Dec 18, 1999 at 12:54:42PM +1030, Greg Lehey wrote:
> On Friday, 17 December 1999 at 20:19:10 -0600, Karl Denninger wrote:
> > On Sat, Dec 18, 1999 at 12:08:32PM +1030, Greg Lehey wrote:
> >> On Monday, 13 December 1999 at 12:55:20 -0600, Karl Denninger wrote:
> >>>
> >>> BTW, I have older HP DAT drives (4 & 8gb models) that have several YEARS
> >>> of active use on them, and other than using a cleaning tape when the front
> >>> panel "clean me" light flashes I've NEVER had ANY problem with them.
> >>
> >> This is in stark contrast with my experience.  Which models?  The
> >> 35480A DDS-1 drives I had had a life of about 8 months with daily
> >> backups.
> >
> > C1533As, circa 1994.  I have two of them and they are still working.
> 
> I had one of them.  In fact I still do, and it didn't fail on me; it
> got damaged in transit instead, and I never got it repaired.

Ah.  Well, they're good drives.  I still have one in my production machine;
its all original (still has a 9406 firmware stamp!) ;-)

> > They were in use at an *ISP* as primary backup devices for more than
> > two years (read: had the shit beaten out of them nightly) until we
> > outgrew them and went to Exabyte 8705s (which SUCKED
> > reliability-wise, although they're better than the 8500s!).
> 
> I've never used an 8700.  My 8505XL still seems to be working, the
> 8500 before it wore out.

I had 8505XLs too - they sucked badly as well.  My luck with Exabytes has
been somewhere between shit and worse.  I could tell you horror stories
from the early 90s on production machines that ate their tapes or worse, 
wrote tapes that couldn't be restored......

> > The final step was to go to two DLT IIIXTs (after that I have no
> > idea; I don't run the place anymore)
> 
> I'm having trouble with a Quantum DLT4000 right now, but it looks like
> a compatibility problem.

I still have the two IIIXTs - they're overkill for my network at the house
but they work and the price was right.  :-)

> > Their predecessors, two 35480As, were replaced ONLY for capacity reasons.
> > As far as I know *those* are still working (I know where one of them is and
> > its not broken)
> >
> > I've never had trouble with HP DAT drives.  None whatsoever.
> 
> Amazing.  I certainly had your share of the trouble as well.

That's ok - I got your share of trouble with the Exabytes, so we're even ;-).

--
-- 
Karl Denninger (karl@denninger.net)  Web: http://childrens-justice.org
Isn't it time we started putting KIDS first?  See the above URL for
a plan to do exactly that!



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