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From: mcba@newt.phys.unsw.OZ.AU (Michael C. B. Ashley)
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
Subject: Performance of Exabyte 8500
Message-ID: <1733@usage.csd.unsw.oz.au>
Date: 5 Jun 91 22:27:46 GMT
Sender: news@usage.csd.unsw.oz.au
Lines: 18

Hi folks,

I'm keen to purchase one of the new EXB-8500 5Gbyte cartridge tape
drives, but two issues are holding me back:

  (1) Compatibility with EXB-8200 tapes is essential for me. Some
      pre-release advertising material from Exabyte (dated early 1990)
      claims full read and write compatibility, however, a distributor
      has told me that the units currently being shipped are not
      compatible. Does anyone know if this is true?

  (2) Price. I have received a quote which places the EXB-8500 at about
      US$6500, which seems excessive, and is over twice the price of an
      EXB-8200. Is this reasonable?

Thanks for any advice,
Michael Ashley mcba@newt.phys.unsw.oz.au Astrophysics
Dept./UNSW/Australia