Re: QIC2DC cartridges?

Shuffling tape drives in the "fat" 170 (which currently contains the V4R2 "brains" of our 40s) might be barely practical, were the need to arise, since it is by its nature a rarely-used "swing" machine, and is at floor level, mounted on a custom dolly.

Shuffling tape drives in the "slim" 170 (V4R4) is not practical, as it is an active development box, and is on an eyeball-high shelf.

At any rate, I mentioned earlier that the two brand-new QIC2DC tapes will take either their natural format or a QIC2GB format.

Either format, if I try to do a GO SAVE 21 to the new tapes on the V4 box, it fails with a media error in the SAVSYS phase.

Here is where it gets interesting: last week, shortly after the successful "brain transplant," I did a *successful* GO SAVE 21 from the V4R2 "brains" to the one QIC2GB tape we have that *didn't* snap its drive belt. The OS didn't complain about trying to do a SAVSYS to QIC2GB in a QIC4GB drive, and everything fit on the one tape.

Today, I tried it with the new QIC2DC tapes. V4R2 wouldn't recognize a QIC2DC format, but it *would* recognize a QIC2GB format, and a GO SAVE 21 worked just fine, except for one small issue: it required *BOTH* tapes.

Clearly, a QIC2DC is shorter than an actual QIC2GB (Unfortunately, neither QIC2DC tapes nor QIC4GB tapes show a length on the label). Maybe *that* is why a V4R4 GO SAVE 21 to a QIC2DC tape failed on the V4R4 box.

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JHHL