Anyone know how to install an IBM LTO 3 Ultrium tape drive?
Just thinking out loud here. Reading data from a tape has to be very similar to reading data from a CD or DVD. Both are sequential access. A CD or DVD read head can skip many tracks ahead or back on a the disk, but once it's synced up, it reads the data off just the same way a tape drive does.. A tape drive has to run the tape all the way through the read head until it gets to the good part.
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PappyPuppy
- Posts: 409
- Joined: Sat 01 Oct 2016, 00:27
My "good part" is probably only the first block or so.
Now that I've written the code for the cartridge memory, I can try out those programs mentioned earlier in the thread. I only need to read the first block of the tape with my program.
It's likely that I will delegate reading the rest of the tape to someone else as they are the ones who will make sure the tape is good. It's not really my job.
But if they redelegate it back to me, then I will check the tapes with my program.
I waited until tomorrow because I wanted to make sure I didn't wind up with a used drive that eats tapes, and possibly lose the ability to test my C++ program (this could also be done in Perl or Python or other ways). I only paid 45.00 for the drive which probably cost close to a 1000.00 new. It beats my old Colorados although it's probably not as good as the old PDP 11/70 drives I used early in my career in research and development.
All drives need to be maintained or retired - whether hard-drive, floppy, cd/dvd, or tape.
But hopefully I will use this drive as a backup device, and I might buy some more of them. That's why I've been downloading all the documents from their sites and from HP's sites. I want to learn the physical make-up of the drive in case I need to fix it.
It's likely that I will delegate reading the rest of the tape to someone else as they are the ones who will make sure the tape is good. It's not really my job.
But if they redelegate it back to me, then I will check the tapes with my program.
I waited until tomorrow because I wanted to make sure I didn't wind up with a used drive that eats tapes, and possibly lose the ability to test my C++ program (this could also be done in Perl or Python or other ways). I only paid 45.00 for the drive which probably cost close to a 1000.00 new. It beats my old Colorados although it's probably not as good as the old PDP 11/70 drives I used early in my career in research and development.
All drives need to be maintained or retired - whether hard-drive, floppy, cd/dvd, or tape.
But hopefully I will use this drive as a backup device, and I might buy some more of them. That's why I've been downloading all the documents from their sites and from HP's sites. I want to learn the physical make-up of the drive in case I need to fix it.