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Date:      Tue, 24 Dec 1996 13:51:47 +1030 (CST)
From:      Michael Smith <msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au>
To:        aat81@dial.pipex.com (Simon Reading)
Cc:        grog@lemis.de, se@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: DAT reliability
Message-ID:  <199612240321.NAA19559@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au>
In-Reply-To: <3.0.32.19961223225320.006855dc@pop.dial.pipex.com> from Simon Reading at "Dec 23, 96 10:56:02 pm"

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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  [[



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