18 messages in org.freebsd.freebsd-hardwareRe: Strong opinions, anyone?| From | Sent On | Attachments |
|---|---|---|
| Rob Schofield | Jun 30, 1998 12:40 am | |
| Richard Foulk | Jun 30, 1998 2:13 am | |
| Greg Lehey | Jun 30, 1998 2:20 am | |
| Nick Hibma | Jun 30, 1998 2:54 am | |
| Guido Kollerie | Jun 30, 1998 4:02 am | |
| Louis A. Mamakos | Jun 30, 1998 5:51 am | |
| Richard Foulk | Jun 30, 1998 11:26 am | |
| Mike Smith | Jun 30, 1998 12:41 pm | |
| Jin Guojun (ITG staff) | Jun 30, 1998 1:09 pm | |
| Richard Foulk | Jun 30, 1998 1:41 pm | |
| Mike Smith | Jun 30, 1998 1:42 pm | |
| Greg Lehey | Jun 30, 1998 4:31 pm | |
| Richard Foulk | Jun 30, 1998 6:16 pm | |
| Dan Strick | Jun 30, 1998 7:43 pm | |
| Mike Tancsa | Jun 30, 1998 9:08 pm | |
| Richard Foulk | Jun 30, 1998 9:12 pm | |
| Stephen McKay | Jul 1, 1998 2:53 am | |
| Ron 'The Insane One' Rosson | Jul 1, 1998 7:01 am |
| Subject: | Re: Strong opinions, anyone? | |
|---|---|---|
| From: | Dan Strick (da...@math.berkeley.edu) | |
| Date: | Jun 30, 1998 7:43:09 pm | |
| List: | org.freebsd.freebsd-hardware | |
} > The Exabyte 8200's are cheap,
...
Yes. Buy several, so you have a set of spare parts.
...
} > reliable ... Mature technology. Built to be used in data centers, not toys like
...
I think "notorious" is a more accurate term than "mature". The 8200 is
The drives seem to wear out. It is not just the heads, which have an official lifetime stated in tape-motion-hours, but other unknown parts of the drives that go bump in the night. I used to send 8200s back to the factory for repair, get them back in top operating condition, and then watch the soft error rate slowly climb back up to unacceptable levels in a period of months.
I suspect the drives would be ok if they received continuous massive preventive maintenance, like computer equipment was supposed to get once upon a time.
There is another problem. The medium is not that robust. I once tried to read archival 8200 tapes of various ages, just to see if it could be done. The tapes had been kept in an air conditioned machine room for since having been written. I found that I could only read (without error) only about half of the tapes that were about 3 years old. I honestly don't know if I would have had much better luck with 9-track open-reel tape or with Babylonian clay tablets, though the total number of bits lost would certainly have been much smaller.
Dan Strick da...@math.berkeley.edu
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