On 07/23/2017 10:35 PM, Glen Slick via cctalk wrote:
On Sun, Jul 23, 2017 at 8:23 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
There have been many tape formats that have gone in and out of fashion.
In the late 80s and early 90s, 8mm videotape-type Exabyte carts were
very popular--when have you last seen one?
30 seconds ago. I guess I should clean the Exabyte carts off my dining room
table.
The problem with Exabyte drives is they seemed to have a
short shelf life. If powered on 24/7, they would fail about
once a year, and require a several hundred $ overhaul at a
3rd party rebuild facility. There was quite an industry of
people rebuilding these drives, possibly using consumer
video parts. The electronics in the drive also would fail
fairly often.
If left powered off, it seemed like the failure rate was not
much better.
We used them as data transfer drives, so ran the HECK out of
them at work (tape loaded and moving something like 100
hours a week.)
Jon
