Re: SCSI Tape drive and IIgs

[TTSH35A@prodigy.com (Phil Abel)]

oode@nando.net (Don Munn) wrote:
>
>I have a IIgs ROM01 with system 6.0 and I am trying to add a SCSI Tape
>backup unit.  I have an Apple High Speed SCSI card and 2 drives
>connected currently.  The tape drive is off an old unix box.  I have
>the ID set to 3 (boot drive and second HD set to 5 and 6).  I loaded
>the system 6.0 SCSI tape driver, but nothing showed up on the desktop.
>Am I hoping for the impossibe, or is there a driver that can be added
>that will fix this.  Any help or information would be much
>appreciated.
>

I have recently gone thru this dilemma myself... First of all, I believe 
that the GS driver is partial to the 3M mechanism as found in the Apple 
SC40 tape unit. I tried a Tecmar drive (whatever mechanism that is) on my 
GS, and though it recognized the drive on boot as a SCSI device, when I 
went into archiver to try to back something up it didn't acknowledge the 
drive's presence, although the SCSITAPE device showed up in GS/OS. I 
later found a good deal on an SC40 and hooked it up and it works 
perfectly, though I am still curious about making the Tecmar work, though 
I doubt it will.

#1. I have read that you should set the SCSI ID on a tape drive to 0 
(lowest priority) if this will help any... this seemed to eliminate 
annoying searching of the tape drive on boot.  #2. Another thing-- The 
tape drive will NOT show up on the GS/OS desktop. It does not work like a 
regular drive. You need a special program (aka Archiver in GSOS or I 
believe there are some 8 bit programs, too) that knows how to store files 
on the tape. Open advanced disk utilities when in GSOS and see if the 
SCSITAPE unit is present-- then you will know the drive was identified ok.
 Then the next test-- see if you can backup-- like I said, I believe that 
the GS is partial, if not demanding, that you have the 3M tape unit. Open 
archiver, set your "backup to..." device as SCSITAPE and hit start. When 
the thing says "insert first backup tape" and you insert a tape and hit 
ok, if it starts giving you errors or repeating the message, then GS/OS 
doesn't like your tape unit. If it works... then go out for a pizza or 
something while the thing whiles away at your files. Try recovering 
selected files after the backup to make sure the archive went ok so you 
can begin trusting in your tape backups.