A4846 & DLT8000

[PSS SYS ADMIN]

Hi everyone,
I want to know if I can install on A4846 library a DLT8000 tape.
Now I have 4 DLT7000 drives and th emax capacity is of 6 drives so I have 2 free slots.
Can you help me?

Regards...
PSS

[Vincent Farrugia]

Hello,

Unfortunately you cannot. The DLT7000 drive is the best your 6/100 library can handle. They have been obsolete for months, even years, now, unfortunately.

HTH,
Vince

[PSS SYS ADMIN]

Hi,
can you give me an official link where can I found notices about the uncompatibility of DLT8000 and the A4846 library?

Regards...
PSS

[Vincent Farrugia · Accepted solution]

Hello,

I couldn't find an "official" document stating that, but I am 100% sure that it is the case. Your A4846A is an old StorageTek 6/100 DLT library, which at that time could only hold DLT4000, DLT7000 and some old StorageTek drive (I guess it is the 9714 drive).

However, I found something from http://partsurfer.hp.com . Search for A4846A under "Enter an HP product number or name:" box, from the next page, under "Keyword", select "Drive", and you will see that the supported HP drives were only DLT4000 and DLT7000.

HTH,
Vince

[Brian M Rawlings]

Hi. This old library is an STK 9714. Neither STK not the HP OEM'ed version supported DLT8000. Not much exists about this guy anymore, but go to:

http://www.storagetek.com/pdfs/GSA_Price_Table_5-15-02.pdf

Do an acrobat search for 9714001, and you'll see all the parts that you could order under GSA (government purchasing) rules, which only include DLT 4000 and DLT 7000 drives.

If somebody needs proof that this old library can't support DLT8000, call your STK rep or your STK reseller, and get it directly from STK, but Vince gave you the straight scoop.

The normal replacement for this would be the L180, which holds DLT8000 through all modern SDLT320, plus LTO, plus other new drives. If you're interested in staying with all HP-branded products, however, your next library won't be STK, HP is now OEMing the Quantum/ATL tape libraries in this size, and Overland Data's libraries in the smaller space.

If you're happy with the reliability of your STK unit and want to stick with STK, they provide nationwide support etc. I prefer STK to ATL, in the big libraries, but having HP do all the support is a major factor as well.

Anyway, that's the lowdown, hope it helps.

--bmr