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DLT8000 4/40 Library Tape Question

 
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John R_2
Occasional Contributor

DLT8000 4/40 Library Tape Question

Hello all,

Can a tape that has been written using a DLT8000 Tape drive (#A4686A) in an HP Surestore 4/40 Tape Library be read by an DLT7000 tape in an HP 4X48 library? In other words, is there an "Emulation" mode on this DLT8000 drive to 'emulate' a DLT7000 - for playback with a customer's existing DLT7000 series Library?

Thanks for your help in advance.

John
3 REPLIES 3
Brian M Rawlings
Honored Contributor
Solution

Re: DLT8000 4/40 Library Tape Question

John: I believe the answer is "yes, this can be done", but there are some caveats.

You have to create a special device file for your DLT8000 that will specify that it write in DLT7000 density, and then use that device file when making tapes to be read on the 7000.

There is an excellent writeup here:

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x4381abe92dabd5118ff10090279cd0f9,00.html

You will be wasting some space that could hold more data, but your backups will be readable on either drive. I can imagine scenarios under which this makes sense, from a recovery standpoint. At some point, the other library will hopefully be upgraded, and both can use DLT8000 mode (while reading the old tapes in DLT7000 format when necessary).

Anyway, good luck, hope it's not too much trouble.

--bmr
We must indeed all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately. (Benjamin Franklin)
John R_2
Occasional Contributor

Re: DLT8000 4/40 Library Tape Question

Thanks Brian.

That's just the information I was looking for!
Peter Frazer
Frequent Advisor

Re: DLT8000 4/40 Library Tape Question

The other thing you have to look out for is compression, both software and hardware. In addendum, the 4x48 cannot be upgraded. we have one and wanted to do the same thing but were told "sorry". Also, you may want to check with the manufacturer of your backup software, if you use third party, to see if they offer anything native to handle this.