Installing external tape drives
Recording Drive Information
36
•
Data with little redundancy, such as executable programs, are compressed the least.
Media Recognition System (DDS-4 Drives Only)
Using non-DDS media may appear to give satisfactory results, but the inferior specifications of such
media can cause data-integrity problems. To avoid these problems, the external tape drive provides
a media-recognition system (MRS) feature that determines whether tape cartridges conform to the
DDS tape standard.
By default, MRS is enabled. With this setting, the drive:
•
Reads from and writes to MRS media.
•
Reads from but does not write to non-MRS media.
If you disable MRS, the drive reads from and writes to MRS and non-MRS media.
NOTE: MRS is not available with external DAT 72 drives.
Power-On Self-Test
By default, the external tape drive responds to SCSI commands only after it successfully completes
the Power-On Self-Test (about 5 seconds). If you do not want the drive to perform this diagnostic
when it powers-up, disable the Power-On Self-Test.
Host Operating System
By default, the external tape drive is configured for a Microsoft Windows 98/Me/XP/NT/2000/
2003 Server operating system.
Recording Drive Information
After you review and, if necessary, change the drive’s default settings, record the information.
