Re: Firewire VXA tape drive

[John Gee]

>  > 2) Is the new drive now a native firewire implementation, or is it
>>  just the old drive with the adaptor inside the box instead of outside
>>  the box?
>
>First, there are NO native FireWire storage devices on the market. All
>current FireWire drives are using a bridge solution whether it is an ATAPI
>or SCSI bridge. Apple understands the need to support the current bridged
>USB and FireWire storage solutions for Mac OS X.
>
>The new FireWire Ecrix drive has the bridge built inside the case. Ecrix can
>offer the best information on hardware specifics.

Ecrix have responded to a separate question with "The difference in 
the two firewire drives is mostly cosmetic".


Thanks Irena for the helpful comments on all my questions.
-- 
John Gee[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Dunedin, New ZealandProgrammers live in interesting times...



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Re: Firewire VXA tape drive

[Irena Solomon]

Hi John,

> 1) Will I eventually be able to back up my Mac on MacOS X using
> Retrospect on either or both of the old/new firewire vxa drives?

We are fully committed to the best possible Mac OS X device support
regardless of interface (SCSI, FireWire, USB). Right now we are developing
device support for Mac OS X and it is a top priority to us that our device
support list includes all currently shipping drives that we have qualified.


> 2) Is the new drive now a native firewire implementation, or is it
> just the old drive with the adaptor inside the box instead of outside
> the box?

First, there are NO native FireWire storage devices on the market. All
current FireWire drives are using a bridge solution whether it is an ATAPI
or SCSI bridge. Apple understands the need to support the current bridged
USB and FireWire storage solutions for Mac OS X.

The new FireWire Ecrix drive has the bridge built inside the case. Ecrix can
offer the best information on hardware specifics.


> 3) Does the old drive appear as a firewire device to Retrospect, or
> does a software shim make it appear as a SCSI device? (If it appears
> as a piece of firewire hardware, it seems more likely it will be
> supported on MacOS X.)

All FireWire devices will appear with a SCSI ID number both in Retrospect
and other applications. What the ID is really referring to is the bus it is
on. For example: 0:1- 0-6: = SCSI, 1:0 - 1:6 = External SCSI, or SCSI card,
2:-x = USB, 3:-x= FireWire. Currently we use a shim, or bridge driver that
allows the device to show up in Retrospect.

If you have any questions, of course, feel free to contact us.

Thanks,

Irena Solomon
Dantz Technical Support
925.253.3050

Try our new Searchable Knowledgebase at:
http://partners.dantz.com:591/faq/



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Firewire VXA tape drive

[John Gee]

Ecrix have just announced a VXA drive with integrated firewire, 
bundled with Retrospect.

http://www.ecrix.com/press/pr-2001-01-09.html

I made enquiries about buying it with a local dealer, and have been 
offered the previous scsi-to-firewire VXA drive at a reduced price. 
This raises some interesting questions, the main one of which is 
probably impossible to answer at the moment!

1) Will I eventually be able to back up my Mac on MacOS X using 
Retrospect on either or both of the old/new firewire vxa drives?

2) Is the new drive now a native firewire implementation, or is it 
just the old drive with the adaptor inside the box instead of outside 
the box?

3) Does the old drive appear as a firewire device to Retrospect, or 
does a software shim make it appear as a SCSI device? (If it appears 
as a piece of firewire hardware, it seems more likely it will be 
supported on MacOS X.)

The last question might be the only one that can be answered for sure!
-- 
John Gee[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Dunedin, New ZealandProgrammers live in interesting times...



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