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- Newsgroups: comp.misc
- Path: sparky!uunet!decwrl!pa.dec.com!datum.nyo.dec.com!nntpd.lkg.dec.com!torrid.ogo.dec.com!lee
- From: lee@torrid.ogo.dec.com (wooga wooga wooga)
- Subject: Re: CompacTape II?
- Message-ID: <1992Nov23.213100.1015@nntpd.lkg.dec.com>
- Sender: usenet@nntpd.lkg.dec.com (USENET News System)
- Reply-To: lee@torrid.ogo.dec.com
- Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
- References: <6523@sersun1.essex.ac.uk> <1992Nov20.213216.25626@aruba.uucp>
- Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 21:31:00 GMT
- Lines: 33
-
- In article <1992Nov20.213216.25626@aruba.uucp>, craigd@aruba.UUCP (Craig Dunham) writes:
- ~
- ~The CompacTapeII is a 296 MB capacity tape that can be read or written only
- ~in the TK70 drives found on newer VAXs, such as the 4000, 6000 series, etc..
- ~
- ~The original CompacTape is a 95 MB capacity tape, which can be read and
- ~written in the TK50 drives, or read only (but not written) in TK70 drives.
- ~
- ~So, a TK50 drive can read/write only the original CompacTapes.
- ~A TK70 drive can read the original CompacTape and read/write the CompacTapeII.
- ~
- ~Since the microVAX-II has a TK50 drive, you will be unable (as you found
- ~out) to use CompacTapeII cartridges on this machine.
-
- Almost. Actually, the CompacTapeII cartridge can be used in both
- TK50 & TK70 drives. The key point is in which type of drive it is
- first initialized. If it is first initialized in a TK50 drive, it
- will act like a standard TK50 tape -- read/writeable in a TK50 drive,
- but in a TK70 drive, it can only be read. If first initialized in a
- TK70 drive, the TK70 will be able to read/write it, but the TK50
- will be completely clueless.
-
- I believe that you can use a bulk eraser to wipe the formatting info,
- but I've never tried it.
-
- --
-
- *A*
-
-
- Andy Lee
- lee@n2itiv.enet.dec.com or ...!decwrl!n2itiv.enet.dec.com!lee
- lee@torrid.ogo.dec.com or ...!decwrl!torrid.ogo.dec.com!lee
-