>> I bought a open-box 2000 DLT drive, and I use it every week to back up
>> everything.  It's been rock-solid.  I've never heard anyone say anything bad
>> about DLT (other than the price).

>amen, on both counts.

I bought a 2nd hand DLT4000 on ebay - I'm very happy with it.
I also picked up 20 x Type III (10G) tapes which suit my backup needs
nicely.

>i had one problem i feel like sharing, b/c is cost me a drive head.
>a tape snapped while loaded, so the tape leader (~1.5 foot strip of

Funny you should mention that.  I had a nasty scare with my drive.
I came in one morning to see all the led's down the right side flashing
(means call for field service :-).  There was a tape stuck in the drive.

Fortunately I was able to pull the top off the drive and manually wind
the takeup spool for a while which seemed to clean the problem in the 
cartridge.  The drive is built like a brick sh&*(t house, and suffered no
serious harm.  The tape survived too - but I won't be using it again.

Summary - its hard to beat DLT.
--sjg