8mm vs. 4mm
|>
|> The following is a summary to my posting a few weeks back regarding
I have a couple of things to add to the 8mm vs 4mm summary. I did not see the
question originally, so I did not respond then.
|>
|> Tape Drive Costs
|> ----------------
|>
|> 8mm $3630
|> 4mm $1650 (less than half the price of the 8mm)
|>
One can buy 2.3 GB 8mm drives for about $1500, and the 5GB (before compression)
for about $2200.
|> Which one is faster
|> -------------------
|>
|> The only real concensus on this one is that 4mm drives seek much
|> faster than 8mm drives.
2.3GB 8mm drives were very slow to search. The 5GB are comparable to the 4mm
format. As far as read/write speed, according to the specs I saw, the uncompressed
I/O was ~400KB/sec for 4mm and ~500KB/sec for 8mm(5GB).
Capacity:
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Currently, the best the 4mm can do is 4GB per tape (uncompressed), and
5GB per tape for 8mm. Compression would improve the numbers proportinally the
same for both formats. I talked to a guy from Exabyte, and he said that they
announced by the end of the year(I think) they will come out with a 20GB 8mm
drive, the same size as the 8505, uncompressed!!! You will have to use different
tapes(still 8mm, but different coating), but it will be able to read tapes
created on 2.3 and 5GB tapes. 4mm just receintly reached the 4GB(uncompressed)
capacity!
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Ilia,levi@kodak.com
