C1536 capacity upgrade.

[Mike_304]

Hi.

Is it possible to increase the capacity of my C1536 Dat Drive ?

Thanks
Mike

[Eugeny Brychkov]

Yes, using 90m DDS1 tapes instead of 60m
Eugeny

[Mike_304]

Anything above 90m? Maybe somebody makes a special tape/software/firmware upgrade etc. that will increase the capacity of the drive to above 2/4GB?

TTFN
Mike

[Vincent Farrugia]

Hello,

The C1536 is a DDS1 device which can only use 60m or 90m tapes.

60m tapes hold 1.3Gb of data natively, 2.6Gb compressed (assuming 2:1 compression). 90m tapes hold 2Gb of data natively, 4Gb compressed (again assuming 2:1 compression).

If you want more meters, you have to upgrade the drive. DDS2 holds 4Gb natively, 8Gb compressed. Those are 120m tapes. DDS3 holds 12Gb natively, 24Gb compressed, using 125m tapes. DDS4 holds 20Gb natively, 40Gb compressed, using 150m tapes.

You will gain in speed as well. DDS1 is only 176Kb/s fast natively. DDS2 is 512Kb/s natively, DDS3 is 1Mb/s and DDS4 is 3Mb/s natively.

All of these are backward-compatible. So a DDS3 drive accepts 90m, 120m and 125m tapes, but not the 150m tapes. For 150m tapes, DDS4 is required.

DLT technology (DLT8000) offers 40Gb natively, 80Gb compressed, and is much faster. It's also faster than DDS4; 6Mb/s native speed. This would change the technology, however, tapes are different, so no compatibility with previous DDS tapes.

If you want higher capacity and speeds, reply to this thread :-)

HTH,
Vince

[Michael Lampi]

Vincent is quite correct, but forgot several other tape technologies, e.g., AIT, LTO and 9x40.

DAT is appropriate for low capacity infrequent tape usage, AIT (and other 8mm) is appropriate for high capacity moderate frequency tape usage, DLT and LTO are appropriate for high capacity high frequency tape usage, and STK's 9x80 tape drives are for high capacity 24x7x365 usage.

That said, another alternative is to use a DAT autoloader and software that supports the tape robot. While this does not increase the capacity of a given tape, it does at least enable your system to access tapes without needing someone there to manually feed the drive.


It is possible to trade in your old drive for the newer, higher performance drives. You can talk to me about such things, or maybe your HP sales person is hungry enough to discuss this with you. :-)