On Sat, 18 Nov 2000, I wrote:
> Meanwhile my best recollection on the 4000/7000 compatibility question
> is that the 7000 will read tapes written by a 4000, but not vice-versa.
> The tapes used by the 4000 to do 20/40 GB are actually the exact same
> media used by the 7000 to do 35/70 GB. That seems like the first
> warning sign!
>
> On the other hand you shouldn't take it from me since I have no direct
> 7000 experience. I'm quite certain you'll run into trouble trying to
> read anything written by an 8000 on any earlier drive since the 8000
> is the first in the line to do variable density. (If data isn't coming
> in fast enough, it keeps the tape moving and decreases the write
> density. I think AIT-2 does this, too.)
Well so much for speculation. The specs on www.quantum.com claim that
both the 7000 and 8000 are "Read/Write compatible with all previous DLT
formats". I'd certainly want more than that to go on, but it does look
promising.
-Mitch
