One of my biggest problems in my last project, using QIC-80 tapes, was
when I needed a file that always seemed to end up at the end of the
tape, taking forever to reload onto the sytem. How fast is the
access time in reloading from Exabyte tapes?
Access is variable. It generally takes 30 seconds to two minutes to
find data on a given tape, depending on where the tape was at before
the search, and where the data is physically located. Exabyte does
not require formatting, instead it marks the beginning and end of
each session. The upshot is that is it has to rewind to the
beginning of the tape before each NEW search. This is not a disk
drive. JVC does have a DAT drive that acts as a virtual disk with
random access (sort of, I guess) and a drive letter and everything.
It sounds like a neat solution for you. But the drawback is that DAT
is not a video service bureau standard, especially where Abekas is
concerned. Your best bet is to buy a large hard drive if you're
looking for fast access. 2 gig drives cost less than $2k these days.