[SunRescue] Playing with my tape drive, got some questions... (also, anyone n eed TR-4 tapes?)

[James Lockwood]

On Mon, 5 Jun 2000, Ken Hansen wrote:

> I finally pulled down my 8mm Sun/Exabyte (Exabyte 8200 in Sun lunch-box
> case) drive
> and am starting to play with it, and I have a few questions:
> 
> 	- Tape cleaners - how often, suggested method - cleaning tape?

Check exabyte.com for most info like this:

http://www.exabyte.com/suppserv/techsupp/8mm/fullhigh/in0061.html

They recommend cleaning every month or 30 tape motion hours (more
frequently in dusty/dirty conditions).

> 	- Media - this is an EX-8200 drive, so anything longer than 112
> meters
> 	  is pointless? My understanding is that this drive is good for 2
> Gig
> 	  (no compression available).

2.3GB.  112m is the longest it can use.

> 
> 	- Where to get media - what brands are considered "good"? Cost
> appears
> 	  to hover around $4.25 - $5.00/112m DAT tape, is that about right?

8mm is helical scan, but not DAT.  4mm DDS tapes are also technically not
DAT but people sometimes confuse the terms.  $4-5/tape is fairly good, if
you want a lower cost per GB then getting an 8505 drive is a good
investment (5GB & up to 10GB with compression on the same tapes)

> 	- How to reset an Exabyte drive? I have three drives, the one
> mentioned
> 	  above appears fine, then I have a coupe more "bare" Exabytes that
> I
> 	  think need to be reset (one just spits the tape out as soon as I
> put it in)
> 	  or at least cleaned severly. (I haven't powered up the third one)
> Any
> 	  pointers to FAQ or other info-bases on these older 8mm drives?

http://www.exabyte.com/suppserv/techsupp/8mm/fullhigh/
http://www.exabyte.com/suppserv/faqs/8mm/

Exabyte developed the 8mm data tape standard and actually has quite a bit
of useful information on their website.

-James