SuperLinux Encyclopedia - Tape Drives

Also see Backup.

Misc:

• Ftape:
  • Ftape home page  (floppy-interface tape drives; also home of ftape-tools)
  • Ftape HOWTO  Information on ftape drive compatibility with Linux.
  • FAQ at LDP
• Dandelion Digital's Linux Home Page  (has MTX, a DDS controller program)
• Dilog  "DILOG develops hardware and software storage solutions such as [...] DAT auto-changers."
• mtf - Microsoft Tape Format reader  "This is the C source code to a bare-bones Microsoft Tape Format reader. MTF is the format used by NT Backup, Windows 95 Backup, and Seagate Backup Exec. The program is not well tested yet and therefore not recommended unless you are a C programmer or really need to read MTF tapes from your Linux box!"

Manufactures & Sellers:

• Aiwa
• Exabyte
• HP - Hewlett Packard
• Seagate  Bought Connor.
• Tandberg
• Tecmar

Types of Drives:

• Streamers:
  • Data is recorded by stationary heads in several tape end-to-end strips. Most cheap drives (lt 400 US$) are of this type. High capacity models can record fairly fast, but few, if any, can be commanded to move to a specified location without reading through all preceeding data. Moving to End-of-Data can take as long as recording the data. OK for usual purposes, though.
  • TR-4:  QIC-3020; 750 ft. 4.0 GB
  • NS8:  TR-4 with hardware compression.
• Helical-Scanners:
  • Data is recorded by rotating heads in strips approximately perpendicular to the tape, similarly to video tape recorders. Most, if not all, can be "quickly" positioned.
  • DAT:  4mm tapes. Cheap tapes. Slowest helical scan.
  • DDS1, DDS2:  ??
  • DDS3:  12 GB/tape uncompressed.
  • 8 mm:  Same tape as video cameras. Popularized by line of Exabyte drives.
• Misc:
  • TR-5:  QUC-????; 10.0 GB [helical or stream ?]
  • NS?:  TR-5 with hardware compression.
  • NS-20:  ??
• :

Comments off Usenet:

• I have found the WangTek 4mm DDS3 series to work very well under linux.

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