[PLUG] DLT tape drives

[Steve Bonds]

On Mon, 6 Oct 2003, Galen Seitz galens-at-seitzassoc.com |PDX Linux|
wrote:

> I'm looking to replace my DDS2 tape drive with a DLT unit.  I need more
> capacity, and I would like to get the increased reliability that I
> believe the DLT format offers.  Does anyone here have any thoughts
> relative to the merits of the DLT7000, DLT1, and VS80 drives?  This will
> be my first foray into the world of DLT.

I've found DLT to be in general one of the most reliable tape formats I've
used.  In particular, the tapes seem to go bad in storage far less
frequently than 4mm (DDS), 8mm, or AIT have.  (Though for true archival
data, I'd suggest that you use 2 copies onto optical media, even if it's a
couple stacks of CD-Rs.)

About the only trick with DLT is to be sure that you're streaming data to
the drive.  You want whatever is writing to send an uninterrupted stream
of data to the DLT since that keeps the tape off the heads.  If the stream
dries up, the DLT is forced to stop, back up to where it stopped writing,
and start over again.  This kills performance and wears out tapes/heads
much faster than normal.

Also, you'll want to clean the DLTs more regularly than you might be used
to with DDS.  Let your drive vendor be your source for the exact frequency
since they'll be the ones replacing a drive whose heads have been worn
down from overcleaning.  ;-)

If I were choosing a drive right now, I would go with DLT8000.  DLT7000s
are outdated at this point.  I have no experience with SDLT, so I can't
comment directly on them.

  -- Steve