sony storstation

I have a sony storstation and have downloaded the files needed to make it work. I am using tapes made by Quarter Inch Cartridge Drive Standards, Inc. The tape I am using is "DC2120 QIC-80. The files I downloaded said they were for QIC-80. The tapes I have tried are new and the package says they are formatted. When I try to backup my hard drive I get the message: The tape is not writeable. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, William <IMG SRC="smilies/frown.gif" border="0"> null

First I would check the position of the write protect tab (just like a floppy). Also, have you tried a different tape, possibly you have a bad tape. You could also try formatting the tape.

Also, what is the brand and model of the tape drive? Is it listed under the windows/system tab?

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Originally posted by Dumass:
<STRONG>Also, what is the brand and model of the tape drive? Is it listed under the windows/system tab?</STRONG>

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I am not sure what this means: "I've used Norton and Seagate and they each had a tool bar for tape maintainance." The software I downloaded off the internet has options for formatting, renaming, retensioning, etc. The only problem is the "format" is greyed out. Do you know how to open it?

Also, what is the brand and model of the tape drive? The brand say Sony Store Station ditto 2gb. That is all it says on the front. The model: 102000-PX

Is it listed under the windows/system tab?

Under my control panel:
system:
tape controller drivers:
any tape controller card is listed with an yellow exclamation point over it, if that tells you anything.

I have been gone and not at my computer. Again any helps would be much apprecitated.

William

The DC2120 tapes you are trying to use although they are Qic80 are only 120/250 meg tapes.

The Sony Store Station is a 1/2 GB drive and uses QW2gb tapes.

Although the tapes look the same they are different.
DC2120 = 307.5 feet
QW2gb = 400.0 feet in length.
The QW2gb also has a higher recording density than does the DC2120.

The Sony Store Station is supposedly backwardly (READ/ NOT Write) compatible with the DC2120, but that's not doing you any good for backing up.

Thanks for your response. So, does this mean that I need to trash these tapes and buy the right ones? If so, do you think I would be better just junking this Sony Stor Station and just buying me a cd rewrite?

Thanks again,

William

That really depends on your backup needs. If your looking to backup say 1gb of info to a single media then I'de keep the Sony. If you can easily fit what you want on a 650mb cd or two then a burner might be your better choice.

As with anything else weight the costs and time involved. The burner would be quicker overall, but the tape will store more data on a single media.

After all is said and done the choice is really up to you. Me personally I have both a burner and a tape drive.

I recommend the OnStream tape drives, they are faster than a 12X CD Writer and store up to 50GB per tape. The drive is only $199 new and $40 per tape. (I got the drive and a tape for $140 on eBay). The drive is VERY quiet, fast and reliable. It also comes with the best backup software I've used.

The best part is that the drive works like a normal removable drive (assigned to drive letter T:\) and you can use it like a large 30-50GB floppy disk. The transfer rate speed is very fast for a tape drive so it can easily plys DVD quality movies stored on the tape.