Date   : Wed, 20 Dec 2006 05:53:09 -0600
From   : julesrichardsonuk@... (Jules Richardson)
Subject: Digital Services Digistore Tape Drive

Ian Wolstenholme wrote:
> Does anybody have any information about this item?
> Visually it's very similar to the Acorn Winchester disc,
> same size and colouring with a 1MHz bus connector
> at the back and a fan and a black metal front plate
> with the tape drive accessible from there.

Does it actually *say* it's for a beeb and that's a 1MHz bus connector? Tape 
drive vendors back in the day were notorious for producing drives which needed 
custom hardware in the host machine (rather than just using something common, 
like SCSI).

I've certainly seen drives in cases that are painted various combinations of 
beige / brown, and drives which use a variety of cable widths to connect to a 
host system. Unless it specifically said '1MHz bus' on the back I'd be worried 
that it was for some other system entirely...

> It takes very chunky DC600A tapes, these are the
> biggest tapes I have ever seen at 6 inches across!

They're reliable as hell though - along with DLT, the old QIC tapes such as 
these seem to age really well and typically are still error-free even after 
all these years. Plus they're nice in winter as the baseplate gets lovely and 
toasty after use - good for warming cold hands when you take the tape out :-)

The major problem with these sorts of drives though is the rubber roller 
(visible about halfway down the left side of the drive inside) as it often 
decays and goes mushy due to natural breakdown. It'd be worth checking on 
yours to make sure that it feels solid...

> The unit seems to work, it powers up OK to all 
> intents and purposes and will rewind a tape if you 
> wind it on a bit before inserting, but I can't get
> the Beeb to recognise it.

Any chance of some photos, or at least details of protocol boards inside and a 
make/model number of the drive itself?

cheers

Jules