Our drives are DLT7000.
We got considerable reduction in errors when we upgraded to the V70
firmware.
Current level is V80!

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wu, Jie [SMTP:JWu AT NCTR.FDA DOT GOV]
> Sent: Thursday, August 05, 1999 10:24 AM
> To:   ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
> Subject:      Re: DLT reliability
>
> DLT tapes have been giving me much headache. From the specification, DLT
> technology seems very pretty. However, I had to replace over ten tapes in
> the last 3 or 4 months. That is painful experience. Yes, definitely do not
> use a tape for more than half a year.
> By the way, I am using IBM 7337, and the Quantum drives in it have
> formware
> version V65. People are saying that this level of firmware will cause
> tape-reading and locating problem. Can somebody confirm this?
>
> Jie
>
> Jie Wu
> System and Storage Administrator
> ROW Sciences Inc @NCTR FDA
> phone: 870-543-7958
> fax: 870-543-7382
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: David Boyes [SMTP:dboyes AT DIMENSION DOT NET]
> > Sent: Thursday, August 05, 1999 8:31 AM
> > To:   ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
> > Subject:      DLT reliability
> >
> > >But i'm interested in the reliability of DLT tapes. How many damaged
> > >tapes have the members of this list seen in their live?
> >
> >
> > Dozens. DLTs are high density, but very sensitive to environmentals.
> > Temperature, pressure, humidity all have a serious impact on DLT
> > performance and lifetime -- most small shops don't maintain a controlled
> > environment that supports longterm DLT usage.  Drop one or knock it off
> a
> > desk and the data's probably gone. They also hold up very poorly to lots
> > of tape positioning requests (in a non-collocated environment, DLTs
> don't
> > work well at all).
> >
> > In most "open systems" environments, I don't recommend using DLT
> > cartridges for more than 4 months before replacing them.  If you look at
> > the total lifecycle cost of using the DLTs, the 3590s start to look like
> a
> > good idea very quickly.