[2981] in linux-scsi channel archive
Re: Travan tape drives
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Ryan Kirkpatrick)
Sat Dec 20 00:07:00 1997
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 1997 22:00:34 -0700 (MST)
From: Ryan Kirkpatrick <rkirkpat@nag.cs.colorado.edu>
Reply-To: Ryan Kirkpatrick <rkirkpat@nag.cs.colorado.edu>
To: Juha Virtanen <jiivee@hut.fi>
cc: linux-scsi@vger.rutgers.edu
In-Reply-To: <199712171236.OAA144536@vipunen.hut.fi>
On Wed, 17 Dec 1997, Juha Virtanen wrote:
>
> Hello all,
>
> Does Linux support travan tape drives connecting to SCSI-2
> interface? Does normal SCSI tape driver (st.o) support them or do
> I need a special driver for them?
>
> I'm specifically looking Linux support for a Seagate Tapestor
> 8000 4 GB/8 GB travan-4 drive. SCSI-HOWTO didn't answer to this
> question.
This drive works ok for me, though I often have odd problems with
it under Linux (none under NT/95). Sometimes, if I try and write multiple
backup sets (with afio) to the tape I start getting errors left and right,
I/O errors if I remember correctly. I had to play around with tape drive
(writing and erasing) multiple times before it would take a backup. Really
wierd and very annoying. I have been using 'mt' of RH4.0, and 'afio'. I
have never heard of the 'mt-st', or how it is different from 'mt'.
My personal feeling for this tape drive is pretty negative, given
the poor reliablity I have had with it (returned about four tapes due to
defects), poor performace (gets about 25mb per minute, but seek is really,
really slow, takes 3hours to seek 2/3 of the way into the tape), and high
media cost ($40 for 4GB native is very expensive compared to DAT).
Overall, I would suggest staying away from this drive if you can,
and especially if you plan to backup a lot of data on a regular basis
under Linux.
Just my two cents of course, YMMV.
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| Ryan Kirkpatrick | Boulder, Colorado | rkirkpat@nag.cs.colorado.edu |
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