SUMMARY: Writing QIC60 Tapes on an QIC150 Drive?

From: Jason Hargis (Jason.Hargis@PII.COM)
Date: Mon Dec 06 1993 - 17:50:31 CST

        Original question:

        We have an old shoe-box with a QIC60 tape drive in use JUST so
        that we can WRITE QIC60 Tapes for our customers. Now the
        QIC150 Drive will READ QIC150 <OR> QIC60. Any way to get it to
        WRITE QIC60 Format, thus removing the QIC60 Drive? Kernel mods?
        Please tell me I can get RID of this pile!

Answers:

.....
Sorry, no, 150 drives have heads with the wrong gap, so they cannot
write the thicker track width required for 60MB tape drives to read
the tape reliably. Now, they can read 60's as they center on the
wider track and read the middle of it.

.....
the QIC150 cannot write QIC24 (QIC60) tapes. Even if the heads
would try, it is not likely that the QIC24 (QIC60) drives would
be able to read the tapes. THis has to do with expected track
widths. I, too, wish that the QIC150 drives could write the old
format, as I also have to keep one old drive working.

.....
600A tapes can be written on by Sun 150MB tape drives. 300As do not work.
I think 300XPs work, too.

.....
as far as I know, the short answer is no, you are stuck....

.....
no. the limitation is in the drive, not the kernel.

.....
I'm afraid you're stuck with it. Trying to write 60Mb with a 150Mb
drive is like trying to write a 360K floppy with a 1.2M drive -- the
tracks of the high-density head are too narrow to write data which a
low-density head can read reliably.

Although it is not advisable, especially when writing media for
customers, you can sometimes get by with such things on floppy;
however a QIC drive will not even attempt it.

If your goal is to save space, you most likely could mount a SCSI
disk in that shoebox along with the tape.

.....
Use device /dev/rst8 instead of /dev/rst0. The device number
specifies the capacity in this case.

.....
It can't, keep the QIC60.

.....

                        Sounds like I need to keep the Low Density!

                                        Thanks,

                                        Jason Hargis

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