> Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 17:59:40 -0500 (EST)
> From: "r. 'bear' stricklin" <red_at_bears.org>
> To: classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org
> Subject: Re: Drive inventory
>
> On Fri, 15 Feb 2002, Carl Lowenstein wrote:
>
> > The only Data/DAT drives I ever used (Gigatrend) were hardly ever
> > compatible from one drive to another. In fact they were seldom compatible
> > on the same drive from month to month.
>
> FWIW I have one of those drives. The mechanism was manufactured by JVC,
> and I have not had much luck with it. I recall it being extremely
> persnickety about errors on tapes, and even when I managed to get a whole
> backup onto a tape without the drive going into fits, I was never able to
> read that tape back to verify the data.
Yes. I have a box of unreadable backup tapes and data tapes that someone
else made while under the impression that the Gigatrend was really a
working tape drive. :-(
> OTOH if the tapes had to be formatted before use and were block
> addressable, that might tend to explain why I had such terrible luck using
> that drive as a normal tape device under unix. What was the prescribed
> method for using a tape in this drive?
Scrabbling around in the back room, he finds the Gigatrend 1230 Operators
Manual. From Appendix B:
Press ONLINE to go offline
Press TEST to get to menu -- you want level 1.
Press SETUP to increment displayed digit
Press ONLINE to enter that level
In level 1 you want function 1
Cycle through digits with SETUP
Press ONLINE to select format function using default values.
Lights will blink "FFFF"
Insert tape and press ONLINE to activate format operation.
Simple, isn't it. I think I got it all correctly summarized from the manual.
If you want a copy of Appendix B TEST PROCEDURES it is only 8 pages.
Send me a postal address.
carl
--
carl lowenstein marine physical lab u.c. san diego
clowenstein_at_ucsd.edu
Received on Fri Feb 15 2002 - 18:17:08 GMT