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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.rmit.EDU.AU!news.unimelb.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!feed1.news.erols.com!howland.erols.net!world6.bellatlantic.net!newsin.iconnet.net!news.rochester.ican.net!macwhiz From: macwhiz@phoebe.accinet.net (Rob Levandowski) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: Finding Reliable DAT Drives Date: Fri, 18 Apr 1997 22:29:37 -0400 Organization: ACC iNet (from ACC Long Distance) Lines: 27 Message-ID: <macwhiz-ya023680001804972229370001@news.accinet.net> References: <kientzleE8v0Ly.5zp@netcom.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: powerbook.robl.accinet.net Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Newsreader: Yet Another NewsWatcher 2.3.6 Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:39309 In article <kientzleE8v0Ly.5zp@netcom.com>, kientzle@netcom.com wrote: > Can anyone comment on DAT reliability? Is 2 out of 3 failed backups > something I'm likely to see with a new drive? Does anyone know a good > source of new or high-quality used/surplus DAT drives? (I've noticed > several Mac vendors selling new bare DDS-2 drives for around $800, > which is more than I'd like to pay, but not outrageously so.) If you go with an Archive Python autoloader, make sure you get the 12-tape cartridge for it. We have a generic Python at work, plus two Sun-OEM'd Pythons, and the four-tape cartridges jam. A lot. And when they jam, you can't get them out. At least the twelve-tape cartridge sticks out of the drive, so you can use a careful screwdriver to unjam the tape. Data-wise, though, they seem pretty reliable -- so long as you don't use the tapes more than a few times. I'm limiting my daily tapes to six uses or the first error, whichever comes first. I've been given to understand that the oxide coating on DAT is thin and not well glued to the underlying tape. Myself, if I had to buy a tape drive now, I'd go with either 8mm or DLT. Or, if my needs were small, perhaps a Jaz drive. -- Robert Levandowski Internet Systems Analyst ACC iNet / ACC Long Distance Corp. robl@phoebe.accinet.net