Using a DLT 7000 Library drive as a regular drive

[CA846967]

I work for a not-for-profit organiziation and I recently bought a used DLT 7000 library drive from ebay thinking I could use the drive (without all of the library components) in a server. I removed the drive from the the hot plug chassis, removed the robotic components used to lock the tape in. The drive doesnt isnt getting picked up by my scsi card. Is this possible or did I waste my money? What are the loader jumper pins (located beside the scsi select pins) for? Can I put some jumpers on to change the configuration of this drive from a library drive to a regular Internal drive? Help!
thanks

MG

[Rothery Harris]

Dear Mark,
Absolutely not. Drives in tape libraries have different firmware and have mechanical differences. The firmware cannot be changed out side the factory. The library drives communicate with the tape library robitics controller via a RS422 serial port. This is the connector on the rear next to the SCSI connector. Why don't you return the drive to the library and use it in the library. You could always use the front panel to load the tape.

Regards

Rothery

[CA274452]

There are significant differences between library and stand alone DLT tape drives but in most cases it is possible to use a library drive stand alone with some annoying behavior.

The major differences between library and standalone tape drives are how the drive responds on the SCSI bus, and how the drive releases the tape. Library tape drives will not respond at all on the SCSI bus until they are set up via the RS422 port if there is a cable connected to the loader port. Most firmware revisions will default to ID 5 and appear on the bus if there is nothing attached to the loader port. If the firmware revision in this drive does not do that then you could only use the drive if you configure it first via the RS422 port which is possible but non-trivial.

Make certain that there are no cables attached to the load port connector. On a DLT 7000 drive that is the front connector at the bottom left if you are facing the front of the drive. If there isn't a cable attached and the drive still doesn't show on the bus after a power-cycle then you will have to get an RS-422 to RS-232 adapter and attach the drive to a computer before you can do anything.