Onstream ADR 30GB Model #DI30 Tape drive

[Spartacus]

I had an old (4 years) Onstream IDE dead tape drive laying around... so I decided to play around with it.
I took the covers of and started looking around on the circuitboard.

Just on the other side of the IDE connector (on the circuitboard) it has the following markings:

OnStream 50GB/AI ADR(Advanced Digital Recording).

My best guess is that they "were" going to make a 50GB IDE drive which never came out.

I would like to research this a little further for fun...

Any comments or links that someone can point me in the right direction? I havent been able to find anything on Google or other places.

Thanks

 

[Peter]

www.onstreamdata.com would be a start ... The 30 and 50 GByte drives are actually quite similar, the 50 GByte flavor just using larger cartridges with a longer tape in. The new generation ADR2 drives are 60 and 120 GBytes, available in USB, IDE, FW and SCSI interfaces - the former two using a slower drive than the latter.

I just recently exchanged my Travan NS8 SCSI with an SC30. Nice, fast, quiet, not too expensive.

As I found the ADR drives to be quite reliable, what exactly made yours die?

 

[Spartacus]

I just found a guy on ebay selling 10 50GB IDE drivers (the ones that havent been released) I requested to buy 1 (dont know what to do with 10), so who knows...

My last company has been using Onstream for the last 4+ years... this 30GB IDe was the one I originaly bought. It died when it despooled the tape while backing up. After I ejected the tape it would not recognize any other. The other week I took it apart and found that there was a bunch of tape stuck on the black roller inside.. In a few days i'll clean it and try to find a new rubber peice to replace that one..., so hoping it's not 100% dead...

As far as ADR50's we had 2 of them and so far I had both of them replaced by Onstream... One thing to watch out for is if backup locks up or something. shut down PC (complete power down) then eject the tape on power up... never try to force it out! they do have procedures for that!)

Take into account that both of those drives were spinnin A LOT. Well, 1 tape a day with about 20 to now 30 GB of data.

My new job uses HP DSS stuff.. old, but were getting new stuf soon.

BTW: I just won an auction for NEW ADR50 SCSI(for $200) = NOT even comparable to other drives...

It's a good drive... I just wish they increased capasity... (100GB uncompressed at least).

 

[Peter]

They've just been stepping up to 60 uncompressed. Pity though the ADR2 series don't do the compression themselves anymore.

Despooled tapes usually indicate a dirty window on the cartridge, and/or dusty LED or lens in the drive. (It's the same mechanism as in Travan and miniQIC tapes, optical EOT detection by punch holes in the tape.)

regards, Peter