On Tuesday, October 27, 1998 4:09 PM, Mark Bixby
[SMTP:[log in to unmask]] wrote:
> We're getting ready to order the DLT media for our recently ordered
> 9000/V2250
> with dual DLT-7000s.
>
> I know that HP DDS drives prefer to only write to MRS media.  Does the DLT
> world require something similar to MRS if we want to investigate non-HP
DLT
> media?

As posted earlier, "DAT's DAT, though it's really DDS". Similarly, "DLT is
DLT"; any DLT drive, unless it is defective, can read compatible media
written by any other DLT drive (unless that one was defective). Especially
since they're all made by Quantum anyway. Higher-density drives, like
DLT7000 or DDS2, can read tapes written by lower-density drives, such as DDS
or DLT3000, but not the reverse. Some drives allow you to select oddball
settings, especially if you're using Type III media, to write in a
lower-capacity format. For example, since DLT4000 and DLT7000 drives both
use Type IV media, you might want to tell the DLT7000 to write in the 20GB
density, so the tape can later be read on a DLT4000 drive.

FWIW, HP's DDS drives have no particular "preference" for MRS media; it's
pretty much standard to set DDS2 and later drives to default to
write-protecting non-MRS media, but that's simply a default setting that can
be changed, not a preference.

Steve