Re: Benchmark DLT1?

[John Lockard <jlockard@umich.edu>]

The reason that the "alternative" manufacture of DLT, marketed
as DLT1 is so much cheaper is the throughput to the tape drive.
It's not really a "Knock-off", as they are licensing the
technology from Quantum.

-John

On Sun, Apr 01, 2001 at 05:43:30PM -0400, Nick Holland wrote:
> Not quite so simple...
> 
> Benchmark (the company) is an "alternative manufacturer" of the DLT
> drive format developed by DEC and until recently, available only from
> Quantum (though, of course, other people slapped their names on the
> box).  They call their product "DLT1".
> 
> DLT1 is a 40G (real) DLT format for a price which is shockingly lower
> than Quantum-based DLT IV format drives.  I think Kit (and I, and
> probably a whole lot of other people) are looking for Real World
> Experience with something that sounds too good to be true.  I think we
> all agree the Quantum DLT is a good (but pricy) product, some people I
> know go as far as to say it is the tape drive to which all others
> aspire.  The question is, is the DLT1 as good, or is it a cheap
> knock-off.  After all, if it is not as reliable as a real DLT, I'd
> rather use cheaper DDS media and budget for a new tape drive every
> year or so, than have a DLT drive eating $100 tapes...
> 
> There may be some connection between Benchmark and Tandberg, not sure
> what:
> http://www.tandberg.com/dlt/dlt1.html
> (I got REALLY scared when I saw Tandberg use the same words to praise
> the DLT1 as they did the TRAVAN format...though I haven't tried a
> Tandberg TRAVAN drive, nor do I see any reason believe the TRAVAN
> format itself is fatally flawed, just that my experience has been that
> the products that have shipped and I have tried were junk)
> 
> Benchmark's site is:
> http://www.benchmarktape.com/
> but as of the time I write this, their site is displaying "Windows NT
> error number 2".  For some reason, I find this unimpressive and
> uninspiring.
> 
> Nick.
> (on a never-ending quest for a cheap and reliable backup system that
> uses cost-effective media)
> 
> 
> 
> Hans-Guenter Weigand wrote:
> > 
> > kit@kithalsted.com (Kit Halsted) wrote:
> > > Has anybody used a DLT1 drive under OpenBSD? Good? Bad? Ugly? The
> > > only mention of them I see in the archives is Nick Holland asking for
> > > info back in September, & I'm hoping for a more definite answer than
> > > the "most SCSI tape drives" bit on the 1386 hardware page.
> > 
> > I don't know which model you mean with 'DLT1', but I had a DLT4000,
> > which worked without problems.  Now I own a DLT7000, the best tape drive
> > I ever had.  DLTs are very fast, you possibly need to tune your disk
> > configurations, so that the disks can source the amount of data the tape
> > drive swallows per second.
> > 
> > AFAIK, DLT drives have correct SCSI implementations.  You surely won't
> > run into problems with any DLT.
> > 
> > -hgw
> 
> -- 
> http://www.holland-consulting.net/

-- 
--jlockard - "Hormones always know what they're doing!" - Squirty