SCSI (or other) tape
15 messages in this thread
Anyone know how I can set up an SCSI tape drive for backup?
I have two 80 meg drives on my 2500, and I've been using 80 mb for a backup.
Works great – but I'm out of space, predictably. So, I'd like to use the other
80 as a "real" drive.
160 backup disks kind of intimidates me, though.
Anyone know anything?
–Ben-
I don't know how you'd get them hooked in with the software drivers, but
ARCHIVE and EXABYTE make SCSI tape drives that work pretty well. The ARCHIVE
drive lets you backup up to 150 MB on a cartridge tape. The EXABYTE drive lets
you back up about 2 GIG on an 8mm video tape.
Steve
I've got a SCSI tape drive that uses the 3M (or equiv.) 40 or 60 meg
cartridges. According to CLtd, whom I got my SCSI controller from, states in
the docs that I can "format" a tape with a mountlist specifying that the tape
has 1 surface with a Lowcyl of 0 and Highcyl of 11, and 4800 blocks per track
which will give me 30 meg on a 40 meg tape. The tape drive is a standard Sun
type cartridge drive. I have not tried this yet, but give me the weekend and
I'll let you know how it turns out.
Richard
Richard,
Boy are you in for a surprise if the tape has to be formatted first! If
(and only IF) C.Ltd requires you to use that tape as a filesystem device rather
than a raw device (streaming tape)…you'll see speeds even slower than
floppies!
I've used cartridge tape filesystems on our UNIX boxes at work, I did
it once…that was enough to tell me that I never wanted to do it again.
Don
Don, have you ever seen a DEC TK50 at work? Yesterday, I watched one of these
tape cartridge streamers work away for 10 minutes just to load a diagnostics
program onto a MicroVax II.
Ron
Ron;
Fast arn't they! I usually schedule my eleven course meals for just after
starting an operation on one of those!
=>73<=, bill <KB7LX @ WA4LPD>
Ah the venerable TK50! I'm surprised none of you have mentioned its prodiguous
appetite. Methinks the thing is half drive – half shredder. BTW, the TK stands
for TurKey!
Bill "VaxBrat" Sharer (usually Mr bill around here)
I was amazed how long it took just to load a diagnostic program. BTW, when a
DEC tech went to check out this MVII for me (it had been collecting dust for 6
months, but was still under contract), there was a cartridge stuck in the tk50
drive. When we opened the box, we found that someone had unplugged the power
lead to the drive (for reasons we'll never know). The good part is that when
power was reapplied, the tape came right out.
Ron
At least it came out! Usually we keep a TK50 in the bay to keep dust from
coming in that way. I oversee (support) 170 someodd uvaxen on the floors of
postal facilities across the country. It's unbelievable how much dust
accumulates under these conditions. I've blown an inch worth of dust off of
boards that were presumably protected from such. BTW, RA60s last only about
two months under these conditions before having a nice head crash! RA81s last
much longer, but I'm starting to see mortality rates creep up on them as well.
mr bill
One of our data centers has a much higher fatality rate on TA78 tape drives,
RA60's, and even RA81's then one of our others. This particular one has seen
lots of construction, among other problems. We just had a company clean out
the space under the raised floors, after DEC made such a reccomendation.
I am often amazed at what computer equipment can handle. We had one MVAX II in
a closet with a printer, decservers, assorted junk, and no ventilation. To
service it you had to spend half an hour emptying out the junk.
Ron
Yep. Of course you can count on removables such as the RA60 being much more
dust sensitive than a fixed media. Of course the RA81 drives had the problem
with the crumbling HDA glue early on in their life which DEC didn't want to
fess up to for a while. I had two 785's in a cluster with a 12 RA81 HSC-based
disk farm once. I lost 6 drives at various times because of this! But on the
other hand that uVAXII system survived through piles of dirt!
mr bill
Certain DEC gear has always been resistant to almost anything. The MVII is
famous for taking abuse and ticking away! The 81 was notorious for a while
because of its breakdown rate.
Ron
Sounds familliar… We had a Beta-Test RA-81 back in `82 or `83 on one of our
vaxes at the lab. At this point, between the HDA and several drive-logic
boards, we doubt if any part (excluding the case) is from the original disk
subsystem 🙂 .
Al – 76446,545
UUCP: …philabs!nyit!aca
Thanks
Ben,
I have not seen anything about a working tape in the US, but one is advertised
in the English TRANSACTOR for the AMIGA. It comes from Burocare Graphic Design
Ltd, 211 Kenton Road, Harrow, Middx. HA3 OHD – phone (01)907 3636 and FAX (01)
907 0027. THis is a 150mb tape streamer. Not cheap tho. 795 pounds.
Betty