> The other big difference in later drives is if they were 'streaming' or > not. What that means is the tape is expected to roll continously > (stream) as opposed to being able to quickly stop between records.
Al, Most of the units out there, short of the floor standing ones and the original IBM drives, are streamers, correct? > The motors also don't have much torque compared to the servo > motors of the old drives, which can be an issue if there is much shed > coming off the tape. Does this mainly apply to older tape? If I was using new tape would this be something of a concern? > HP 88780s are nice front loading drives that can be found with > 800/1600/6250 and Pertec or SCSI interfaces. Another one I've used is > the Kennedy 9610, the M4/Storagetek 9614, and the later model > Qualstars. I've seen the 88780s in action and they are nicely built units. The Kennedy 9610 also seems very nice but the two on eBay are priced way out of my reach/hobbyist range. >Each has their quirks especially when dealing with poor > condition tape. I have a couple of Fuji 24xx series, but never made any > use of them since I don't normally use anything that just has a > formatted Pertec interface. This answers my question indirectly. > It all depends on how much use you are really going to make of it, and > the condition of your media. A low-end Qualstar would be OK for light > duty use. > Thanks for the recs and the info. As I said originally this would be more for me to play with than to do any mission critical work. I would be using it on a PC system as a demonstration for the kids and maybe even for routine backup just because I can. Having said that I would like a solid unit that would last and req. minimal maintenance. I am okay with a rack system or a tabletop. The rack obviously would have the more retro feel but the tabletops are easier to manage. Ultimately I think it will come down to what I can find and at what price point. -Ali
