Is there a solution out there, that I can take client tapes whether
they be DLT or DAT or other and read them on our system without
spending thousands of dollars for each type of drive?

<stevenlancas (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

There's companies that offer data conversion services. They can read the
tapes and deliver the data to you in any which way you like. Ask for some
quotes and compare with the cost of buying drives. DDS and DLT can be had
for very little money these days, check eBay.

Rob

On May 16, 11:57 am, "Rob Turk" <wipe_this_r.t... (AT) chello (DOT) nl> wrote:
Thanks I will check into the data conversion services, but I am hoping
there is like an all in one reader out there somewhere. Have you ever
heard of such a thing?

Steve wrote:

They are completely different tape formats, so the best you'd get would
be a box with both types of drive installed which wouldn't save a whole
lot of money!

--
Nik Simpson

"Steve" <stevenlancas (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

You need to take two factors into account. The first is the physical factor.
A DLT tape is a different size, shape and formfactor than a DDS tape or an
8mm tape or an LTO tape. They use different cartridges, physical tape widths
and different track systems. There is not a single device out there that can
handle all of these. Data conversion companies make sure they have one or
more of each device type in-house, they need to invest those thousands of
dollars that you are trying to avoid.

The second factor is logical format. Even if you have a drive that can read
your tape, it doesn't mean that you can understand how the data on tape is
formatted. It could be a Unix tar, cpio or dump tape, but it could also be a
Microsoft MTF format, or any of the hundreds of proprietary data formats in
use by various backup software vendors.

If you have a lot of similar tapes then it may be worth investing in a drive
to read them, and in some detective work to find out what format the tapes
are written in. If it's just single tapes or a mixed collection of unknowns,
pay specialists to do the job.

Rob

On May 16, 10:47 am, stevenlan... (AT) gmail (DOT) com wrote:
Sorry but I can't resist. My company does tape conversions for a
living. Perhaps we can help.
Please see www.mullermedia.com. I can be reached at 518-833-3067, x101

regards, Chris