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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!msunews!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!swrinde!gatech!news.mathworks.com!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!news.sprintlink.net!EU.net!sun4nl!news.iaf.nl!iafnl.iaf.nl!fozzie.sun3.iaf.nl!root From: geert@dfki.uni-kl.de (Geert Bosch) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: Which floppy based QIC-80 tape to buy? Date: 24 Aug 1995 21:13:05 GMT Organization: DFKI (Deutsches Forschungsinstitut f"ur K"unstliche Intelligenz) Lines: 30 Distribution: world Message-ID: <41iq11$jdg@fozzie.sun3.iaf.nl> References: <41hcrm$72n@daphne.ecmwf.int> Reply-To: geert@dfki.uni-kl.de NNTP-Posting-Host: fozzie.sun3.iaf.nl In article <41hcrm$72n@daphne.ecmwf.int>, M.Saunby@ecmwf.int (Michael Saunby) writes: >I'm using a rather old Jumbo drive (don't remember the model, it is marked 250Mb, but >really gives 120Mb without compression). It does work but to be honest I don't trust it. >A couple of (3M) tapes have formatted ok, been written to once, then fail on read. Then they >will not even reformat. [used scissors] >Can anyone recommend a good (but cheap) SCSI tape drive? I'm using an Archive Viper VP150, which was designed for 6150 tapes (150MB), but also works with the 6250 tapes (250 MB) which were introduced later. These megabytes are real megabytes: normally there fit about 165 real megabytes on a 6150 tape, and I never completely filled a 6250 tape, so I don't know about that. The tapes are big (so you won't loose your backup, if it's a mess in your room/office ;-), and they are very reliable. I've yet to encounter the first error. Another advantage: you'll never have to format the tapes: they haven't to use a special format like the Jumbo's, just use a blank unformatted tape. Backup speed is decent at 6 MB/sec (real MB, again) and with a decent SCSI interface, the CPU load is low. I paid $150 for the drive (new), but they aren't being made anymore: it should be easy to find a second-hand one though. The tapes are approx. $15 for the 6150, and $25 for the 6250. I bought a bunch of second hand tapes, and have been using them for years without problems, but my full-backups go on new 3M 6250's. So, if you want a cheap and reliable (and fast compared to Jumbo), easy-to-use tapedrive just buy an old Archive Viper 150 (also sold as Wangtek and Unisys). -- E-Mail: geert@sun3.iaf.nl Phone: +31-53-303054