HP A3716A DDS-3 Autoloader User's Manual - 3716-96001

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Introducing the HP A3716A Autoloader
The HP A3716A autoloader combines a DDS-3 format drive with a changer
mechanism which accesses one of six cartridges in a removable magazine.
The DDS-3 (Digital Data Storage) format is the fourth generation of formats
based on DAT (Digital Audio Tape) technology. A single 125m DDS-3 cartridge
stores 24 GB of data using 2:1 data compression.
Note The autoloader is intended for use with five data cartridges and one cleaning
cartridge in the magazine, allowing one cartridge for each days use and the
ability to clean the tape heads when necessary. Use of more than one cartridge
per day is strongly discouraged.
Caution Use only an HP cleaning cartridge (part number 92283K) to clean the tape
heads. Do not use swabs or other means of cleaning the heads.
The HP A3716A can be used with HP 9000 Series 700 and 800 computer systems
and applications. Although optimum performance will be achieved with 125m
DDS-3 cartridges, the autoloader can read and write 120m DDS-2 cartridges in
DDS-2 format, and 60m and 90m DDS-1 cartridges in DDS-1 format. This
ensures backwards compatibility with earlier DDS-format drives and
autoloaders.
Note Use 125m DDS-3 cartridges for optimum performance.
Data Compression
By default, the HP A3716A compresses data before writing it to tape, using the
popular DCLZ algorithm. This achieves a compression ratio of typically 2:1.