DLT Drives...

[Vegito]

I got a DLT 4000 drive 20gb/40gb compressed, I see the new DLT1 where I can get a tape library 16 tapes. Are DLT IV (DLT 4000) tapes compatible with DLT1 tapes ? They look the same ... thanks..

 

[dszd0g]

I am not sure what you mean by compatible.

DLT1 uses DLT IV tapes. A DLT1 drive can read to, but not write to tapes that have been formated by a DLT 4000 drive. A DLT4000 drive can neither read nor write to tapes that have been formatted by a DLT1 drive (they will generally either see it as blank media or some drives cleaning light will come on).

 

[bozo1]

Keep in mind that DLT1 drives are about half the speed of DLT20/40 (or 15/30) drives, about a quarter of the speed of DLT40/80 (or 35/70) drives - hence the much lower cost.
A DLTIV tape written by a 15/30 or 20/40 drive can be read by DLT1 drive. A DLT1 drive cannot read a tape formatted/written by a DLT35/70 or 40/80 drive. A DLT1 drive cannot read any DLTIII tape.

But that's basically what dszd0g said.

 

[dszd0g]

You mean DLT20/40 drives are half the speed and half the capacity of DLT1 drives, which is why they are cheaper. Or did you mean that DLT1 is cheaper than DLT 8000, because it is half the speed?

DLT 4000 (20/40) drives are 1.5MB/s (uncompressed and a claimed 3MB/s compressed), and I do not believe any new drives are being produced. The ones still around are running for around $400-500. Refurbished can be found cheaper than that.

DLT 7000 (35/70) drives are 5MB/s (10MB/s claimed compressed) and run about $700.

DLT 8000 (40/80) drives are 6MB/s (12MB/s claimed compressed) and run about $1300.

DLT1 (40/80) drives are 3MB/s (6MB/s claimed compressed) and run about $1000.

With the current price of DLT1 drives, I do not see why anyone would choose DLT1 over DLT 7000. They use the same DLT IV tapes so media costs are the same. Actually all the drives above use DLT IV tapes, which are for 20, 35, and 40GB native capacities, DLT 4000, DLT 7000, and DLT 8000 drives can use DLT III tapes at 10GB native (DLT1 can not).