> From: Dave Burgess <burgess@cynjut.neonramp.com>
> Subject: Re: Streamer problem
> To: grr@shandakor.tharsis.com (George Robbins)
> 
> A DC-6525 (if bulk erased) looks just like a DC-6150.  Going down the
> list (DC-600 instead of up to DC-6525) might cause data errors, but even
> that would work (if erased).

This is not necessarily the general case as magnetic material/coercivity
(amount of oomph need for reliable writing 8-) do change between some of
the tapes.  Also the double-length tapes are do tend to be less rugged
when used in older mechanisms, which is probably not relevant here.

I'm not saying you *must* use a particular tape, but a glance at the
media comptibility charts or tape spec's is often a good idea.

> If it hasn't been erased, the tape drive may 
> try to read it and come up with some type of mode select error.

Yup.

> The Viper 150 should be capable of reading and writing the 60Meg QIC format.

Yep, the standard drive can write 60/120/150 formats, and I think read the
old Sun lower density format.  There are also a fair number of Viper 120
drives floating around, which obviously don't support the 150 format stuff.

						George