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Can I use Exabyte tape units on my Apollo? Do I need to buy Omniback to use my Exabyte 8mm tape drive?

April 26, 2017Apollo buy drive Exabyte omniback tape units

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Can I use Exabyte tape units on my Apollo? Do I need to buy Omniback to use my Exabyte 8mm tape drive?

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Yes, you can use Exabyte SCSI-1 EXB-8200 tape unit with the Apollo, provided your Apollo has an SCSI interface (built-in or with WD7000V-ASE). There is no need to create a device file, like /dev/exabyte, using the /etc/mknod command. The device files already exist: id devices wbak/rbak -dev 1 rmts8, rmts12 m0 (default) 2 rmts9, rmts13 m1 3 rmts10, rmts14 m2 4 rmts11, rmts15 m3 It is recommended that you rewind the tape before accessing it with: mt /dev/rmts9 -scsi rewind There are some problems with using the 8200 SX drives because of the length of time it took to rewind, label, reposition, etc. A wbak label of the tape fails. The 8200SX works with tar at SR10.4, but rwmt does not. ( 3/28/93, Chris Folland, Jim Waldram ) Apollo’s earlier tape utilities, including “wbak”, “rbak”, and “rwmt” access the tape drive directly via calls to either the magtape driver or the cartridge tape driver, depending on whether you use “-dev mt” (the default) or “-dev ct”. These