Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!usc!ucla-cs!mara!agsm!iwelch From: iwelch@agsm.ucla.edu (Ivo Welch) Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi Subject: Re: DAT versus 8mm Tape Message-ID: <673@mara.cognet.ucla.edu> Date: 9 Nov 90 06:43:16 GMT References: <272DB1E1.9737@orion.oac.uci.edu> <27388281.13536@orion.oac.uci.edu> <9350@b11.ingr.com> <90Nov8.220601est.7752@neat.cs.toronto.edu> Sender: news@mara.cognet.ucla.edu Organization: UCLA, Anderson Graduate School Of Management Lines: 15 I have heard rumors that DAT drives are not very reliable, i.e. the head assembly goes after a small number of hours used. Is this true? Is there a random-access way to access either DAT or 8mm drives as a big floppy? Occasionally, I would like to store large databases (800MB) consisting of many individual files that would mainly be accessed sequentially. I don't care very much for the Unix dump/restore handling in the first place. Copying a few files directly to another disk device would make things much simpler. What are currently the cheapest sources and quickest availability for academics of the new fast-access 8mm and DAT drives? Can I hook one of these up to any SCSI interface, and plug and go, or do I have to know stuff about hardware and interface software below dump/restore? /ivo welch ivo@next.agsm.ucla.edu