I fought with this same problem when we got our new DDS2 drive.
     The answer is "probably not".  The thing to look for is not so
     much the DDS1 or DDS2 but the 4 bars.  If you look at the DDS
     symbol I am willing to guess you do NOT see 4 vertical bars after
     the DDS symbol.  If you find a tape with 4 vertical bars after
     the DDS symbol (even though it is NOT a DDS2 tape) this tape
     should work.   I also believe (though I could be wrong) that the
     tapes you currently have (the non-4-bar tapes) can be read by
     your DDS2 drive (they just can't be written to).

     So in summary (I believe) a DDS1 drive can read and write to:
    4-bar and non-4 bar 60m and 90m tapes.  A DDS2 can read and write to
    4-bar 60m, 90m and 120m tapes.

    I hope this helps....


  ---------------------------------------------------------------
  Barry Durand      "The opinions expressed in this
  Systems Engineer II    email are not necessarily the
  Gulf South Health Plans    opinions of my employer"
  [log in to unmask]
  ---------------------------------------------------------------


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: DDS Tapes In DDS-2 Drives
Author:  Jim Phillips <[log in to unmask]> at SMTP-PO
Date:    10/13/97 6:23 PM


Okay, is this doable or not?  I'll call the HPRC tomorrow (it's after
5PM here and we only have 8-5 coverage), but thought I'd post this
here first.

We're trying to write to 60 meter DDS tapes that work fine in our DDS-1
(or earlier) tape drive, but are not usable in the DDS-2 drive on our
new machine.  These are genuine HP tapes, although they are not marked
as "Media Recognition System" tapes.  The tape mounts and is recognized
by the volume manager (I get the volume mounted message), but when I try
to write to the tape, I get a "No Write Ring" message (as an aside,
isn't that a quaint message?  I mean, I haven't used magnetic media with
a write ring since 1993.  Wouldn't it be better to change the message to
"Media not write enabled"?)

Anyway, if anyone can explain to me which tapes work in which drives,
I would really appreciate it.  Thanks in advance.

Jim Phillips                            Manager of Information Systems
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]      Therm-O-Link, Inc.
Phone: (330) 527-2124                   P. O. Box 285
  Fax: (330) 527-2123                   Garrettsville, Ohio  44231