From owner-freebsd-hardware Mon Dec 23 19:22:15 1996 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.4/8.8.4) id TAA06476 for hardware-outgoing; Mon, 23 Dec 1996 19:22:15 -0800 (PST) Received: from genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au (genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au [129.127.96.120]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.4/8.8.4) with ESMTP id TAA06471; Mon, 23 Dec 1996 19:22:05 -0800 (PST) Received: (from msmith@localhost) by genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au (8.8.2/8.7.3) id NAA19559; Tue, 24 Dec 1996 13:51:49 +1030 (CST) From: Michael Smith Message-Id: <199612240321.NAA19559@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au> Subject: Re: DAT reliability In-Reply-To: <3.0.32.19961223225320.006855dc@pop.dial.pipex.com> from Simon Reading at "Dec 23, 96 10:56:02 pm" To: aat81@dial.pipex.com (Simon Reading) Date: Tue, 24 Dec 1996 13:51:47 +1030 (CST) Cc: grog@lemis.de, se@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL28 (25)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk Simon Reading stands accused of saying: > In my original post: > >I had an HP C1533A DDS-2 drive which worked fine, but which I exchanged > for a sony SDT-7000 DDS-2 because of the reliability warnings given in the > FreeBSD Handbook. Unfortunately my sony drive is broken - I/O errors on > read, can't format tapes using the Adaptec EZ-SCSI utility etc. I don't understand this; you don't "format" DAT tapes. The sony units ignore the "erase" command because it makes no sense. Are you sure you're conditioning your DATs correctly? You will find that a tape that's been in storage should retensioned (wind to end of media, rewind), and must be at room temperature for best results. Instructions on this sort of thing are included with most decent blank tapes. We've been using and recommending to our customers the Sony SDT-5200 (DDS2, no compression) for over a year now, with no problems at all. Several of these units are operating in arctic/antarctic conditions, and there's one in a hut in Indonesia. We receive tapes from all of these sites on an occasional basis and, modulo conditioning shortcuts, have never had any trouble reading them. > Simon -- ]] Mike Smith, Software Engineer msmith@gsoft.com.au [[ ]] Genesis Software genesis@gsoft.com.au [[ ]] High-speed data acquisition and (GSM mobile) 0411-222-496 [[ ]] realtime instrument control. (ph) +61-8-8267-3493 [[ ]] Unix hardware collector. "Where are your PEZ?" The Tick [[