🚀 go-pugleaf

We are using a MegaTape 8mm tape (shipped by Sequent) unit on our
Symmetry 27. I love the damn thing. It's fast (relative to 9 track). 

We have it's controller on the multibus along with the 9 track
controller. I have plans to eventually move my monthly dumps to 8mm so
the two devices would be working together. I'm assuming the controllers
will be "smart" enough to work together, which of course is a danagerous
assumption due to speed, block size, etc. It has been suggested by
Sequent that there shouldn't be a problem here. We'll see.

We run automated backups at 3:00 am every weekday. The tapes hold about
2.04 gig, which is fine for us, so far. Everything has been a real
plaesure. Some notes:
1. DUMP can't handle the helical scanning, so you get HDUMP with the
package. It's just a modified dump, basically, the same parameters.
2. RESTORE works fine.
3. We are working with big density, ie, 3.95 bpi on the drive.
4. The only "problem "I've had  has been with MT commands. I get thrown
off line alot. The manuals talk about it, but i tried it any way. REWIND
and FSF are ok, but BSF causes the problems. However the 8mm is fast
enough that it isn't that much of a pain to REWIND and FSF instead of
BSF. REWOFFL is ok too.

Please realize that I use the term FAST with caution. At first my
expectations were let down, but the more I use the drive , the more I
love it. The drive does a lot of work. For example, it often retensions
itself depending on the command, so that takes a few seconds (a
minute??). Also, if EJECT is hit, I believe it retensions itself again. 

Davis Raborn
Carnegie Mellon University
Administrative Systems
UCC 167
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
work: 412 268 8554