Drive inventory

From: Tothwolf <tothwolf_at_concentric.net>
Date: Wed Feb 13 22:44:04 2002

On Wed, 13 Feb 2002, Vintage Computer Festival wrote:

> Exabyte EXB-8200 (SCSI)

I just found one of these out in storage too ;)

I also found an 8500, but it is missing the plastic door part that snaps
on. If anyone comes across this part loose somewhere, let me know. This
particular drive is black, not the more common beige.

> WORM Drive of some type (SCSI)

What size?

> QIC-150 tape drive (SCSI)

What brand/model?

> Iomega Jaz (SCSI)
> Iomega ZIP (IDE)

Iomega made a 100MB and 250MB zip drive, as well as a 1GB and 2GB Jaz
drive. The 250MB zip drive can read 100MB disks, but can't format them.
Same situation for the 2GB and 1GB Jaz drives. The Jaz drive is only
available with a SCSI interface, both sizes and both internal and external
versions. The zip 100 was available in *many* configurations, but AFAIK,
Iomega never produced an internal zip 250 with an interface other than
IDE.

> I would imagine I can hook as many of the floppy interface drives as I
> need to a single cable, providing I can crimp on the proper
> connectors. Will there be any issues with conflicts or power? I
> imagine as long as I'm not using two drives on the same cable at a
> time then I should be fine.

Not all brands of drives use the same cable, there are about half a dozen
different cables out there for these drives. You can't connect more than
one floppy tape drive to the floppy interface at the same time. They will
conflict with each other if you do.

> I think I have QIC-40/80 covered. My Tecmar QT-125e does QIC-2 up to
> 125MB, but from what I can tell from research that standard goes up to
> at least 500MB. I'm still trying to figure out what QIC-1000 is.

Many companies use their own tape formats, so you have quite a large
number of drives you still need ;)

the QIC-11/24/etc type drives go up to 2GB IIRC.

> Tecmar is still around (www.tecmar.com) but they only do Travan and DAT.
> Their older products (QIC and 8MM) are obsolete and they don't have
> drivers available.

Most of the 8mm drives, and many SCSI drives for that matter, would have
been used under *nix, so tapes for those drives would likely be plain
old tar.

> I guess what I really want to know is if the various tape drives from
> different manufacturers for a certain specification, say QIC-40/80,
> read and write the same low- or high-level format. So for instance,
> if I create a tape on a Colorado drive and stick it into a Conner
> drive, will the Conner be able to read it?

Not always. Many manufacturers used their own formats, especially for the
40MB tapes.

-Toth
Received on Wed Feb 13 2002 - 22:44:04 GMT