[rescue] Exabyte 8500S - oui ou non?

[Sheldon T. Hall]

Among the namy items stuffed in the Challenge L is an Exabyte 8500S tape
drive.  A bit of googling indicates that this is a 5 GB drive (native) that
doesn't do compression, and that uses 8mm x 116 meter tapes.  Please correct
me if I'm wrong here....

I have the drive, but no tapes.

If the drive itself is OK, I'd like to use it, but I can't get much of a
feeling for the reliability and interchangesability of the thing.  Is the
8500S generally a reliable drive?  Will it write tapes something else can
read?  Will it write tapes _it_ can read? If I use the thing, what should I
look out for, as symptoms of an impending problem?

Thanks.

-Shel
--
Sheldon T. Hall
shel at cmhc.com
206-780-7971 (CMHC)
206-842-2858 (Home)