Forcing good backup procedures; tape drive names

[Jay Ts]

In article <5785 at holston.UUCP>, barton at holston.UUCP (Barton A. Fisk) writes:
> In article <318 at metran.UUCP> jay at metran.UUCP (Jay Ts) writes:
> >In article <1694 at chinacat.Unicom.COM>, chip at chinacat.Unicom.COM (Chip Rosenthal) writes:
> >> In article <867 at zeusa.UUCP> hendrik at zeusa.UUCP (Hendrik Vermooten) writes:
> [backup stuff deleted]
> >
> >In my experience for Xenix and UNIX/386, the DC600 tape drives are much
> >faster than the QIC drives, and this is a very important factor.
> >
> Excuse me. DC600's are tapes made by 3-M not the drives. QIC-24 drives
> use the DC-600 tapes. Let's get these straight before we make backup
> recommendations.

Oops, sorry.

That was a confused typo; I was trying to compare QIC-24 drives to
the smaller drives that (I guess) must be commonly sold for MS-DOS systems.
(OK, so what are *they* called?)  My point was that spending more money on
a faster tape drive is more than worth it if it means that it will actually
be used!

I have been trying to set myself straight on this matter, but have mostly
been getting more confused:  can someone either email or post a *definitive*
listing of

	1) The types of tape drives available and/or in use (I'm looking
	   for standardized names, not manufacturers' model names), and

	2) The tapes that each use, by both
	
		a) dimensions (there doesn't seem to be a standard naming
		   system, but I've got a ruler!)

		b) Manufacturers' product names

I am not an expert on tape drives, but I want to become one.  Please send me
info on the drive(s) you're sure of.  Also tell me if you want to be mailed
a summary.  And if no one else posts comprehensive info, I'll do that too.

			Jay Ts
			uunet!pdn!tscs!metran!jay