[rescue] Exabyte 8500S - oui ou non?

[David L Kindred (Dave)]

>>>>> "Eric" == Eric Dittman <dittman at dittman.net> writes:

    >> > With 30GB DLT tape drives being available on eBay for real low
    >> > prices, I'd recommend using one of those.

    >> The _drives_ are cheap, it's true ... but feeding one looks
    >> expensive.  Even used tapes on eBay are like $20 each.

    Eric> Tapes that don't hold data aren't worth anything.  $20 for
    Eric> 30GB is a fair price to pay to know that you can recover your
    Eric> data.

I don't have any "scientific" data to back this claim up, but I have
been forced to throw out numerous DDS-1, DDS-2, and DDS-3 tapes (mostly
HP and Sony, not "off-brands").  Some bad right OOB (Out Of the Box).  I
have also had to throw out various 8mm "Exabyte" tapes.  I have had OOB
failures on new Sony AIT-2 tapes.  But I never had a single problem with
any DLT-III or DLT-IV tapes.  None.  Some problems with the drives,
which were all repairable, but no failures of the tapes or the data on
them.  And the DLT tapes were handled in the same manner, and stored in
the same places, as the DDS and 8mm tapes.

Sometimes I wish I went SDLT instead of AIT-2 for the new system.


-- 
David L. Kindred