Help on tape drive interoperability/reliability

[Dick Dunn]

rajs at hpindda.cup.hp.com (Rajeev Seth) writes:
> I was going to get an Everex 60MB tape backup for my Interactive Unix 2.2
> running on a 80386 PC...
...
> Everex tech support told me that it is not good enough that two different
> tape drives/machines read/write QIC-24 because the controller card for the
> drive has some security PAL chip that attempts to make sure data is read
> back on the same machine it was archived from. Do you guys find this to be
> true with other brand drives or not?

Not only do we not find it to be true with other brand drives; I barely
find it believable.  I sincerely hope Everex tech support is either pulling
your leg (why?) or massively confused.  Why would someone want a tape drive
that cannot be used to create tapes for interchange?

I've swapped notes with people who have Everex drives, and they're folks I
can't imagine wanting this sort of machine-specific drive.  Frankly, I
don't believe it, but I *would* like to know the real story behind it.
-- 
Dick Dunn     rcd at ico.isc.com -or- ico!rcd       Boulder, CO   (303)449-2870
   Cellular phones: more deadly than marijuana.