From owner-freebsd-hardware Wed Aug 11 17:15:26 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Received: from palrel3.hp.com (palrel3.hp.com [156.153.255.226]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0240F156DC for ; Wed, 11 Aug 1999 17:15:14 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from darrylo@sr.hp.com) Received: from postal.sr.hp.com (root@postal.sr.hp.com [15.4.46.173]) by palrel3.hp.com (8.8.6 (PHNE_17135)/8.8.5tis) with ESMTP id RAA13202; Wed, 11 Aug 1999 17:14:48 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mina.sr.hp.com (root@mina.sr.hp.com [15.4.42.247]) by postal.sr.hp.com with ESMTP (8.8.6 (PHNE_17190)/8.7.3 TIS 5.0) id RAA03730; Wed, 11 Aug 1999 17:14:02 -0700 (PDT) Received: from localhost (darrylo@mina.sr.hp.com [15.4.42.247]) by mina.sr.hp.com with ESMTP (8.8.6 (PHNE_17135)/8.7.3 TIS 5.0) id RAA03317; Wed, 11 Aug 1999 17:14:45 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <199908120014.RAA03317@mina.sr.hp.com> To: Eric Lee Green Cc: mjacob@feral.com, freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: IDE tape backup suggestions Reply-To: Darryl Okahata In-reply-to: Your message of "Wed, 11 Aug 1999 15:37:14 PDT." <99081115455601.05193@ehome.local.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 (generated by tm-edit 7.108) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 17:14:44 -0700 From: Darryl Okahata Sender: owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Eric Lee Green wrote: > Avoid the OnStream for the moment. I have a half dozen here and they will not > work, believe me. They are so cheap because they omit a lot of the hardware > that generates tape blocks and block checksums and etc., so the computer > (software) side has to generate that stuff as part of the actual data stream. > Sort of like the old floppy-controller based tape drives. Well, if the media and drive electronics/mechanics are reliable, the OnStream drives may not be all that bad. I've seen the developer's documentation, and it doesn't look really ugly. Different -- yes. Tedious -- yes. Ugly/awful/nasty -- not really. [ The task becomes even easier if you do what the Echo software appears to do -- ignore OnStream's ADR developer guidelines and use your own proprietary tape format. ] My concerns about the current OnStream drives would be: 1. Is it reliable (software/driver issues aside)? Will the drive be able to read a tape that's been sitting on a shelf for a couple of years? Are there any tape head issues -- do you need to clean the tape heads (which is a possible concern, as the documentation has no mention of head/drive cleaning)? What about dust in the drive? 2. Are the current drives the end of the line? OnStream has announced a "Unix-compatible" drive, although it is a bit expensive. Now, if OnStream produces only "Unix-compatible" drives, then the current product offerings become something like orphans. There's less incentive to develop and maintain drivers for such drives, not to mention possible problems if your current drive dies and you somehow need to find a replacement one. However, FreeBSD used to support the old floppy tape drives, and so there is a precedent. -- 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. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message