Need to use DAT as data drive.

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2 total messages Started by Mike Abbot Wed, 11 Nov 1992 06:46

#153

Author: Mike Abbot
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 06:46

29 lines
1431 bytes

A bit of help required !

I would like to use a (WANG)DAT as a data storage device (as opposed to a 
backup device) in a PC based system.

Ideally I would like to be able to read and write to the DAT drive in a 
manner analogous to a hard drive (albeit in a sequential fashion).  The only 
software I have seen so far is stuff to perform an archiving/backup function.

I have the device driver for the SCSI controller in the PC (Adaptec), and I 
know that I can probably do what I need to do with the relevant SCSI 
calls ...  BUT I'm trying to avoid that !

1.  Has someone done this type of thing before ?

2.  Is there any sort of standard for the (high-level) formatting of data on 
a DAT drive ?

3.  Is there a device driver available that allows a DAT to function as a 
DOS disk drive ?

Any help or comments will be greatly appreciated.

Mike


Mike Abbott     mabbot@fred.csir.co.za (EMAIL not very reliable at present)
Cape Town       PH :  +27 2231 75101
RSA             FAX : +27 2231 75142

Re: Need to use DAT as data drive.

#157

Author: Klaus Steinberger
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 09:19

38 lines
2269 bytes

mabbot@stel.csir.co.za (Mike Abbot) writes:

>I would like to use a (WANG)DAT as a data storage device (as opposed to a 
>backup device) in a PC based system.

>I have the device driver for the SCSI controller in the PC (Adaptec), and I 
>know that I can probably do what I need to do with the relevant SCSI 
>calls ...  BUT I'm trying to avoid that !
I would avoid that too. But did your driver software allow you 
open/close/read/write calls for the drive? This is the way you should work.

>1.  Has someone done this type of thing before ?
We use our DAT drives regularly for experiment data acquisition.
But we use them on UNIX workstations.

>2.  Is there any sort of standard for the (high-level) formatting of data on 
>a DAT drive ?
The standard is DDS, and is enforced by your drive, if you mean that.
If you mean, which block size you should use, there is no standard, and
there will never be a standard for that. The block size depends only on your
requirements. Block size should be large, or you will suffer from bad
performance.  Use block size in the range of 10 - 32k or even larger,
if your PC allows that.

>3.  Is there a device driver available that allows a DAT to function as a 
>DOS disk drive ?
Theoretically, this would be possible, but you really don't like that,
a filesystem for a disk drive lives with random access. You could do that
with a DAT drive, but think of the access time of 20s compared to 10-20ms
for a disk drive.

Sincerely,
Klaus
--
Klaus Steinberger               Beschleunigerlabor der TU und LMU Muenchen
Phone: (+49 89)3209 4287        Hochschulgelaende
FAX:   (+49 89)3209 4280        D-8046 Garching, Germany
Internet: Klaus.Steinberger@Physik.Uni-Muenchen.DE

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