Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!nuchat!moray!siswat!buck
From: buck@siswat.UUCP (A. Lester Buck)
Newsgroups: comp.periphs
Subject: Re: A standalone 1/4-inch SCSI tape drive?
Message-ID: <452@siswat.UUCP>
Date: 23 Sep 89 19:01:26 GMT
References:  <3686@blake.acs.washington.edu>
Distribution: na
Organization: Photon Graphics,  Houston
Lines: 35

In article <3686@blake.acs.washington.edu>, seymour@blake.acs.washington.edu (Richard Seymour) writes:
> In article  rsm@math.arizona.edu (Robert S. Maier) writes:
> >I'm looking for a standalone 1/4-inch tape drive with a SCSI
> >interface.  I'm buying a Data General workstation with a 50-pin SCSI
> 
> One of our people bought an "Archive Corp". (sold for use with IBM PC's)
> so its input connector is a "QIC-02 format".
> It usually comes with an IBM AT interface card.
> But you throw that away and buy from Emulex an MT-02 interface card.
> That will interface a QIC-02 to a SCSI system.
> 
> Thewhole mess cost less than $1000.
> 
> -- dick seymour@uwaphast

I use the same system, except the Archive drive I have is QIC-36 and
the MT-02 is definitely QIC-36 to SCSI.  I bought an Archive FastTape 60
standalone unit for about $450 with PC interface card and was able to
replace the internal 50 conductor ribbon cable with a longer version.
I can now use the PC interface with its custom shielded cable OR a SCSI
attachment from the MT-02 by way of the 50 pin QIC-36 cable.  (The MT-02
does need power separately, of course.)

But why not just buy one of the Archive or Wangtek SCSI units directly?  The
MT-02 is hardly state-of-the-art now, but still costs ~$400.  Another
solution is an integrated drive and controller, such as the (old) Cipher
540S, which I bought used for about $500 in Computer Hotline.  The 540S uses
a custom version of the MT-02 to Cipher proprietary interface, though the
SCSI view is (virtually) identical.  The 540S's problem is it only takes the
DC300XL/P tapes at 40 MB.  Using a DC600A leads to drastically reduced head
life, according to Cipher.


-- 
A. Lester Buck		...!texbell!moray!siswat!buck