Data R/W Compatibility for TF85 and TF86 Drives

[Noor Ahmed_1]

Hi Managers,

I am facing problem of Data cartrige read on TF85 Drive which was written by TF86 Drive..

How can I read the cartridge on TF85 Drive which was written by TF86 Drive...

Rgds
noor

[Jan van den Ende]

Noor,

that can only be done if during the writing on the TF86 the tape was explicitly INITed as TF85 compatible.

Afterwards there simply is NO way.
Sorry.

Proost.

Have one on me.

jpe

[Noor Ahmed_1]

Hi jpe,

Thanx for reply....can u mention how can the tape be inited as TF85 comatible under OpenVMS V6.2 so we may take care in future...

Rgds
noor

[Jan van den Ende · Accepted solution]

Noor,

The INIT command has a /DENSITY= qualifier, but I am not sure if TF85 is already supported under V6.2
HELP INIT will be your aid there.
The second way to do this is by hardware setting: on the front panel of the drive there ar (IMMSMW) density selecyion buttons.
Those will work irrespective of VMS version.

hth

Proost.

Have one on me.

jpe

[Uwe Zessin]

If I remember correctly, neither the TF86 nor the TF85 have a density select switch, but I am faily sure I have put a cartridge from a TF86 into a TF85 and then ran:

$ initialize /override=(acc,exp,own) tape: label

to bring it to a lower density.


(I've been running TF86s on OpenVMS VAX V6.1)

[Jan van den Ende]

Uwe,

yes, indeed, that is the 3rd method: INIT on the TF85 and then use as pre-initted tape on TF86.

Proost.

Have one on me.

jpe

[Noor Ahmed_1]

Hi uwe/jpe,

I tried
$ initialize /override=(acc,exp,own) tape: label

on tape in TF86 Drive backup some data

and then try to read the same tape in TF85 drive but it did'nt read the tape, giving some label ansi format error...

Moreover /DENSITY quilifier is not allowed for any TF and TK tape Drives.

What may be the solution then???


Rgds
noor

[Uwe Zessin]

You need to INITIALIZE on the TF85 first, then just MOUNT the tape on the TF86 and transfer the data to the tape.

Whenever you INITIALIZE on the TF86, the tape is recorded in a density that the TF85 cannot process.

The /OVERRIDE prevents the TF85 trying to read anything from the tape.

[Russ Carraro]

This is what I've done to initialize a DAT tape as TF85 on a TF86 tape drive:
$ MCR SYSGEN CONNECT FYA0/NOADAPTER
$ SHOW DEVICE MIA
(shows $1$MIA0: (TFBLU0) Online)
$ SET HOST/DUP/SERV=MSCP$DUP/TASK=PARAMS TFBLU0
params> SHOW FORCEDENSITY (should be 2 for TF86)
params> SET FORCEDENSITY 1 (should be 1 for TF85)
params> WRITE
params> EXIT

Now go ahead and initialize the tape(s). When done, reset the density: