HP DDS DRIVES USER GUIDE
1
USING A HP DDS TAPE DRIVE
This document describes the HP DDS-2/3 tape drives. The
software needed to control the drives depends on your operating
environment; ask your supplier for details.
The drive has a built-in compression algorithm which can
typically double, and in some cases quadruple, tape capacity. Data
compression and decompression is transparent to the host
software.
The DDS-2 drive uses 120-metre (DDS-2) cassettes and the
DDS-3 drive uses 125-metre (DDS-3) cassettes. Both drives can
use earlier DDS format cassettes (the DDS-3 drive can read
DDS-2 cassettes, but not vice versa). The drive automatically
detects the format of the cassette when it is inserted into the drive.
It has the capability to read and write both DDS uncompressed
and DDS-DC compressed data and data cartridges.
The drive writes compressed data by default, unless it finds
uncompressed data already on the cassette. The drive can also write
uncompressed data under software control. When reading a cassette,
the DDS drives automatically distinguishes compressed and
uncompressed data and either decompresses it or passes it through
unaltered as appropriate.
Caution
Use only cassettes bearing the DDS or DDS MRS (Media
Recognition System) symbols; you cannot play audio DAT cassettes
with these drives, even on multimedia systems.
ACTIVITY
LIGHT
ATTENTION
LIGHT
EJECT BUTTON
CASSETTE INSERTION SLOT
