Mark bring up a good point, however let me point out that even if a 125-meter tape could be used in a DDS-2 drive (which I really
doubt,)  the extra tape you get (5 meters, or 4.2% more) is inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.  Especially in light of
the problems you will have with this medium in that drive.


Denys

-----Original Message-----
From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Mark Landin
Sent: Friday, March 28, 2003 8:33 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: DDS3 vs DDS2 tapes

 On Thu, 27 Mar 2003 16:31:58 -0600 (Central Standard Time), John Lee
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Connie-
>
>I second what Denys said, plus I believe that the tape itself dictates to
>the drive how fast it should operate at?  In other words, if you use DDS2
>tapes, you're only getting DDS2 performance, and not the faster DDS3
>performance.

True, but with a longer tape you won't run into EOT quite as fast. I
used to use DDS2 tapes in DDS1 drives ... I still got DDS1 speeds and
recording densities, but the longer tape gave me a proportionate
increase in total storage.

However, just because I did it doesn't mean I recommend it. As Denys
points out, drives and media are designed together, and mixing one
media with an older drive might spell disaster. Proceed at your OWN
RISK.

Considering how critical backups are, it is NOT the place to be
looking to save a few dollars.

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