Are DLT1 and VS80 format the same

[Mike Marriage_1]

A number of my suppliers are giving me conflicting details about DLT1 and vs80.

One view is that they are one and the same and you can transfer data between drives without consideration of DLT1 and VS80.

The other view is that vs80 can read DLT1 but not write.

Is this because of differences between manufacturers of failures in undertanding. needless to say no one is offering sale or return if its wrong.

[Dave Dewar]

Hi Mike,

DLT1 and VS80 are the same format, vs80 is just a half height version of dlt1, see the link below for full details of vs80/dlt1 and dlt40,70,80 compatability. In a nutshell, use a DLTIV type tape, can read and write between vs80/dlt1 drives and read only from DLT40 written tapes. DLT70 and DLT80 written tapes cannot be read and must be deguassed before use.

Cheers,

Dave Dewar.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=lpg50230&locale=en_US&taskId=120&prodSeriesId=63898&prodTypeId=12169

[Eugeny Brychkov]

vs80 unit has DLT1 drive inside. They're fully compatible
Eugeny

[Dave Dewar]

Hi,

Eugeny, I know that we (HP) are a great company but I didn't realise we were so good as to manage to fit a 5 1/4 inch full height product inside a 5 1/4 inch half height one :-)

The VS80 is the half height version of the DLT1, in the same way that the Ultrium 215 is the half height version of the Ultrium 230.
The VS80 goes at the same speed as the DLT1 drive 3MB/s native, whereas the Ultrium 215 goes at half the speed of the Ultrium 230, 7.5MBs compared to 15MB/s native.

In the same way that the Ultrium 215 and 230 use the same format and are fuly compatible, so are the DLT1 and VS80.

Cheers,

Dave Dewar

[Eugeny Brychkov]

Dave,
I fully rely on you :o)
Looking to firmware files I guess that Compaq DLT1 (DLT VS 40/80) is exactly the same mech as BNCHMARK DLT1 (genuine DLT1), but HP's one C9264CB-VS80 is different...
Eugeny

[Dave Dewar]

Hi Eugeny,

I didn't work on the dlt1/vs80 programs but I am pretty sure that all dlt1 drives benchmark,compaq and hp are the same hardware and all vs80 drives are the same hardware. The firmware can quite possibly be different to ensure different personalities, features and depending on the firmware vintage, different levels of bug fix. Also, the support quality of each brand of product are very different from each company, support is where hp adds value on the vs80.

In terms of hardware the vs80 and dlt1 products are different. The vs80 is a re-engineering dlt1 to make it half height. The ultrium 215 is a re-engineered ultrium 230 to make it half height.