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Date:      Thu, 24 Dec 1998 12:10:25 +1030
From:      Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com>
To:        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: SCSI Tape Drive Recommendations?
Message-ID:  <19981224121025.C12346@freebie.lemis.com>
In-Reply-To: <19981223010016.B4910@drwho.xnet.com>; from Michael Maxwell on Wed, Dec 23, 1998 at 01:00:16AM -0600
References:  <19981219214449.A13107@drwho.xnet.com> <19981223143817.Y85005@freebie.lemis.com> <19981223010016.B4910@drwho.xnet.com>

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On Wednesday, 23 December 1998 at  1:00:16 -0600, Michael Maxwell wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 23, 1998 at 02:38:17PM +1030, Greg Lehey wrote:
>> The silence is deafening, isn't it?  The question is ``reliable''.  I
>> find most tape units unreliable.  At the moment I'm still using DDS
>> drives, but I haven't had any that have survived more than two years,
>> and refurbishing seems to be a waste of money.  General consensus is
>> that Travan drives are even worse than DDS or Exabyte, but that may be
>> prejudice.
> ---end quoted text---
>
> Well, I"ve gotten a few responses via email, but we'll see what turns up...
>
> Is anyone familiar with the HP T4 internal "Surestore" drives? 

Maybe.  I wish HP wouldn't use these silly marketing names.  They have
part numbers, too, but it's a pain finding them.  Don't buy a DDS-1
such as the C1536.  They're old technology, and even less reliable
than the others.

> Are they supported in BSD (no mention in the handbook, but then...)?

If they're DDS drives, definitely "yes".

> Chances are, I'll probably have to settle for one of those since
> they are about all I can afford (the only thing better I"ve seen is
> the Exabyte 8700LT 8mm external, and I don't like it precisely
> *because* it's external and it looks more like a Sony Walkman than a
> tape drive).

What's wrong with it being external?  Yes, it looks silly, but it
seems to be a good drive (and, before you ask, yes, it's supported).

> if nothing else, I may be able to get my hands on two internal exabyte
> 8mm drives off our old AS/400 at work, but they are *quite* used, and I'd
> have a hard time relying on them... especially considering they've been
> serviced more times than I can count...

Used Exabytes are seldom a good choice, and you may find that they
store a lot less data than you think.

Greg
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