Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tank!ncar!asuvax!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!munnari.oz.au!cluster!yar
From: yar@cs.su.oz (Ray Loyzaga)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mips
Subject: Re: Experience with DAT drives?
Message-ID: <766@cluster.cs.su.oz>
Date: 13 Mar 90 22:55:36 GMT
References: <1273@tuminfo1.lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de> <1990Mar11.160020.27837@sobeco.com>
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Reply-To: yar@cluster.cs.su.oz (Ray Loyzaga)
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Organization: Basser Dept of Computer Science, University of Sydney, Australia
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In article <1990Mar11.160020.27837@sobeco.com> roe@sobeco.com (r.peterson) writes:
> From article <1273@tuminfo1.lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de>, by k2@charly.bl.physik.tu-muenchen.de (Klaus Steinberger):
> > has anybody tried to use a HP/Sony DAT Drive or a Wangtek drive
> > on a MIPS System?
> 
> However, both the transfer rate and storage capacity are about half the
> exabyte.
I have used a JVC DAT called a Gigatape, it plugs straight into the
SCSI port and works well on the M/120, there seems to be a firmware
mismatch once it is on the system that makes the M120 fail the cold
boot diagnostics, this doesn't stop the device from being usable, but
should be fixed by mips and the tape manufacturer ...
The nice thing about this drive is that it has a display that gives
constant info about what is going on, seeking, writing etc, with
a number that increments as the tape is used, so you can get perfectly
accurate numbers about how much of the tape has been written.
The speed of writing was slower than the Exabyte, but certainly not
by half, maybe 80% as fast, the real win is that the tape can do end to end
seeks in 10-20 seconds, whereas the Exabyte is absolutely painful
with each command. The Gigatype, being fully digital, will be more
reliable and it does not lose sync due to a tape error e.g.
If there is a media error early in the tape, the drive will still
be able to find any later files without trouble. This is great for
multi-machine backups and restores.

In my opinion, the DAT style systems are much better to use for
multi-file tape use, most of this comes from the speed of positioning.
The major drawback being the requirement for pre-formatting the tape,
which can take >3hours each. Maybe they will sell preformatted tapes?
Or maybe they will get ones that format on the fly.