DLT IV Tape compatibility

L

legrand

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 30, 2004
Messages
79
I realize this isn't a "disk" storage type, but this forum seemed the most logical place for this question.

I'm looking into a DLT IV drive for daily backup operations where I work. We currently have a 4mm tape drive that is long in the tooth, and short in the capacity. To rectify this, I'm looking at a DLT IV tape drive that is capable of 160/320GB storage.

My question is that, being unfamiliar with DLT drives, is there only one tape that goes with these units and, depending on the drive that you have, you will get different storage capacities from it? All the tapes (the media) seem to say 40/80 on them. Is this number hard, or is it flexible depending on the drive you have?

I ask because the 4mm drive we have requires you get specific tapes that have specific capacities to work with the drive (eg. 10/20, 4/8, 40/80, etc.). I just don't know if the DLT drive operates in the same way or not.

Thanks for your assistance.
 
Yes, only 1 tape goes into the tape drive at a time, unless of course you have an autoloader (which it doesn't sound like you have or need). They way a tape is advertised (such as 160/320) is you can fit 160GB of uncompressed data on the tape or 320GB of compressed data on it. There are other tapes out there that have a 3:1 ratio and even 4:1 ratio of compressed/uncompressed data.
 
I guess I didn't make my question clear enough.

I realize that, unless you have a loader, that only one tape goes into the drive at a time, my question is:

If I have a tape drive that's labeled 160/320 GB, do I need a DLT tape that is also labeled 160/320 GB (which I can't seem to find) or will the 40/80 GB ones, that seem to be everywhere, allow the 160/320 GB to be recorded on them?
 
legrand said:
I guess I didn't make my question clear enough.

I realize that, unless you have a loader, that only one tape goes into the drive at a time, my question is:

If I have a tape drive that's labeled 160/320 GB, do I need a DLT tape that is also labeled 160/320 GB (which I can't seem to find) or will the 40/80 GB ones, that seem to be everywhere, allow the 160/320 GB to be recorded on them?
Click to expand...

I'm no tape expert, but I believe you can. Where I work, we are limited to what size tapes we can use because we are on Veritas 9.0 and not 10.
 
actually, my understanding is that if the tape is listed as 40/80 then that is the most you can get on it. In fact, most of the time you will never even get the full compressed storage amount.

If your drive supports 160/320 then it is usually backwards compatible with the older tapes, but you will not be able to store more than the tapes are rated for.
 
Thanks for the replies. I finally got through to Quantum technical support (their voice mail system is terrible) and apparently their 160/320GB drive uses a tape, DLT VS1, part number MR-V1MQN-01. This tape is labeled at 80/160GB, however the tech said it will do the 160/320GB as well. Even if it's only ablt to do the 160, that's more than 4x what we need right now.

As for your comment, farscapesg1, regarding storage capacities, you're completely correct. I have never obtained the higher compressed storage number. We will usually get about 27GB compressed on a 20/40GB tape before it's maxed out. It really depends on what you're saving and how well it can be compressed.

Thanks again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top