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From: agodwin@acorn.co.uk (Adrian Godwin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.nsc.32k
Subject: Re: 1/4" SCSI Tape Drives from CSC
Message-ID: <5602@acorn.co.uk>
Date: 6 Mar 91 13:08:36 GMT
References: <9103051758.AA01137@hpcsbg.col.hp.com>
Organization: Acorn Computers Ltd, Cambridge, UK
Lines: 68

In article <9103051758.AA01137@hpcsbg.col.hp.com> bdale@col.hp.com (Bdale Garbee) writes:
>> I just got the latest CSC (Corporate Systems Center -- where our
>> Miniscibes came from) flyer which has an 115MB Archive 2060S quarter
>> inch SCSI tape drive for $295 qty 1, $249 qty 5 and $219 qty 10.
>> While I hate QIC as much as the next guy (maybe more) 115MB is much
>> more reasonable than the usual 60MB, and I would consider buying one..
>

I'm surprised at the capacity quoted. I have an OEM manual for the Viper drives
here, and it says :

	Feature			Specification
				2060S			2125S

	Capacity		60 Mb			125 Mb
	(formatted, using 600ft tape cartridge)

	Track format		9-track serpentine	15-track serpentine

	Flux density		10,000 ftpi		12,500 ftpi

	Data density		8,000 bpi		10,000 bpi

	Avg. transfer rate	90 kB/sec		112.5 kB/sec

	Burst transfer rate, 	1.25Mb/sec		1.25MB/sec	
	max

	Recording format	QIC-24			QIC-120

	Read compatibility	QIC-24			QIC-24

E&OE.

It's possible the 115M capacity is for a longer tape than 600 feet - how long
is a DC600XPD ?

>Does it eat standard DC-600 tapes, or something else, or standard and/or
>something else?  Anyone know?  If it can make use of the *big* box of DC600
>tapes I've accumulated over the years...
>
>Bdale

'Eat' is probably the operative word :-). 


The spec says :

	2060S	ANSI X3B5/85-138	3M DC600A	read/write QIC24
		ANSI BSR X3.127		3M DC300XL	read/write QIC24


	2125S	ANSI X3B5/85-138	3M DC600A	read/write QIC120
							read only  QIC24
		ANSI BSR X3.127		3M DC300XL	read only  QIC24

I have a 2150S here which seems to have the same performance as the 2125.
It seems to work fine on 12,500 ftpi tapes like the 3M DC600A, and has
interchangeability qualities no worse than any other drives I've tried. 

The 100Mbyte+ capacity can be a limitation - I have a 9-track drive at home, 
and it can't read the tapes, of course. If you want maximum options in 
interchangeability with other machines, you should bear this in mind.

-adrian
-- 
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Adrian Godwin                                        (agodwin@acorn.co.uk)