[Info-vax] Replacement of SCSI tape drives and loaders

[FrankS]

On Jan 29, 11:58 am, "Syltrem" <syltremz... at videotron.ca> wrote:
> But the transfer rate will be that of a SCSI device, not that of a fibre
> connected device, right ?  That's what I was told, and it does make sense as the unit is really a SCSI
> device.
>

Ultimately yes.  You can't make a SCSI device go faster than it's
capable.  However, since the SCSI transfers are being offloaded from
the host, and there's additional caching in the NSR/MDR device, you
end up with some other benefits.  I know from experience that I can
stream data to a SCSI tape drive that's connected to an MDR, which
would not stream while directly connected to a host-based SCSI
adapter.

The other obvious advantage is shared devices.  You don't have to go
through connecting and reconnecting tape drives, or buying one drive
per system.

And, lastly, cost becomes a factor.  You already mentioned that the
MSL4048 (or whatever it was) was too expensive an option.  A used NSR
or MDR plus one or more less expensive LTO libraries could possibly be
had for less total outlay than that one fiber tape library.

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