[Info-vax] SDLT 1 tape cartridge longevity?

[mathog]

On Nov 2, 12:56 pm, "Richard B. Gilbert" <rgilber... at comcast.net>
wrote:
> Methinks you are tilting at windmills!

Vendors who break contracts, which is exactly what this is, make me
grumpy.

>Try a different brand of tape or
> a whole different technology if you can find such.

The Maxell tapes have held up much better than the Quantum brand.
Fuji also makes some.  I have no experience
with Fuji SDLT cartridges, their DLTtape IIIXT held up OK, but those
were made long ago, and who knows what the quality control is like
now.

While shopping found a "new" brand "Echo", which sells _recycled_
tapes.  See for instance:

  http://www.tapeandmedia.com/detail.asp?product_id=ECHO-SDLT

These come with the same lifetime guaranty that the Quantum's did.
Hopefully for Echo "lifetime" will never mean "whatever we want it to
mean", since if these include Quantum recycled tapes (no way to tell),
they likely fail at exactly the same rate as non-recycled Quantum's.

Regards,

David Mathog