We had EXACTLY this problem and only found out about the hardware
compression when some of our customers could read the DATs we sent and some
couldn't.

HP told us the default was NO hardware compression.....rubbish the default
is compressed.  They also told us the only way to turn it off was to reboot
the machine.  Again not true.  It took one of our customers to tell me what
to do.

There is a program that allows compression to be turned on/off:
DEVCTRL.MPEXL.TELESUP 7 ENABLE ENABLE
Device = 7, Compression=ENABLE, Eject=ENABLE, Load=Nochange

        -----Original Message-----
        From:   Duane Percox [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
        Sent:   13 August 1998 17:30
        To:     [log in to unmask]
        Subject:        dds drive question

        I have a dds-II/90m (1503) that is giving me problems. Our 3'rd
party
        support folks are temporarily out of 1503s and suggest using
        a 1504. The 1504 does h/w compression, but there is some confusion
over
        whether it is default h/w compression or optional. I can't be
cutting
        tapes on this drive with them compressed because we use it to send
        tapes to customers. So, if its by default enabled I need to know how
        it can be disabled before I can begin using it.

        Anyone have the skinny on this 1503/1504 issue?


        Duane Percox ([log in to unmask]  v/650.372.0200x608 f/650.372.3386)
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