Mixing DDS-3 and DDS-4

[gparrish]

Can you use a DDS-4 tape on a DDS-3 drive? I think the tapes are just longer in length to get the added storage capacity but not sure if the drive can handle that.

Thanks,
Greg

 

[comtec17]

You cannot use a DDS4 tape in a DDS3 drive. Tape drives are backwards compatible not forward. The tape change is not only in length but in block sizes as well.

 

[Stat1c]

I've never been able to use DDS3 tape in DDS4 drive.. I didn't think DDS drives, had any compatibility apart from that of a door wedge.

 

[cmeagan656]

We use DDS3 tapes in DDS4 drives all the time without any problem. We use NTBackup and only do a differential backup Monday through Thursday, therefore why spend the extra $ on DDS4 tapes if you don't need them.

We have 3 servers to backup and only one has enough data for a DDS4 tape for the full Friday backup. We have DDS4 drives on them all so that if one fails we can restore /backup a different server while it is being replaced.

Cheeers.

 

[Stat1c]

Cmeagan, That's a fantastic way to do it.. and cheap!

 

[Stat1c]

But how many DDS4 drives do you lose per year?

 

[cmeagan656]

By "lose" I take it you mean we have to replace? Maybe once every 3 years we'll have to replace one. They're on different cycles (purchased at different times) so we're never replacing 2 in the same year.

We're an accounting office so from February 1st to April 30th (Canada's tax "season&quot we're backing up 7 days a week. Still only Friday for the full backup though. The Exchange server is always a full backup since you can't do differentials on it but it only takes an hour and 40 minutes since our information store is only 3GB.

Cheers.

 

[jayoungatdph]

I too would like to use DDS3 tapes in a DDS4 drive. Mainly because I need to replace my DDS3 drive and it would be nice to be able to upgrade and still use the old tapes.

I know when I went from DDS2 to 3 I had to dump all my DDS2 tapes. The drive said it was compatable with DDS2 tapes as well as DDS3 tapes but I found that I ruined a tape drive in about 6 months. Later I found a document that said not to use DDS2 tapes in a DDS3 drive on a regular basis. The DDS2 tapes are courser and dirtier and wear out the drive quickly.

I'm wondering if the same thing will happen if I strictly use DDS3 tapes in a DDS4 drive.

My backups take about 18 hours per week for the full and maybe 20 minutes per day for the incrementals.

The DDS3 drives I have now have lasted 3 years. The Compaq drive just quit working. The Sony drive continues to run.

 

[cmeagan656]

We use Compaq and IBM DDS4 drives. 1 has been running over 3 years now, 1 over 2 years, and 1 for just over a year.

In two of our DDS4 drives we use nothing but DDS3 tapes. In the third one we use a DDS4 tape only on a Friday night (for a normal backup). We run NTbackup on all three servers and have never had any problem restoring any tape (DDS3 or DDS4) from any DDS drive.

I don't know if this makes any difference but we use only Sony DDS tapes. We've found them to be the most reliable.

Cheers.

 

[jayoungatdph]

Thank you for the update. That gives me confidence to get a DDS4 drive to replace the DDS3 drive.

>I don't know if this makes any difference but we use only >Sony DDS tapes. We've found them to be the most reliable

I think I've noticed that too. It seems like I would have problems every time I used HP tapes. The sony tapes I've used over and over with no problems.

Too bad I didn't see your post a couple days earlier. I just orderd 100 tapes. I'm getting Fuji this time. Hopefully they will be OK. I usually think of Sony as lower end stuff. HP boasts of having standards twice as rigid as the industry standard.

 

[bfks3230]

We are using DDS-3 tapes in a DDS-4 drives, and they are working fine. I seriously doubt that DDS-3 drives can read DDS-4 though.

I have gotten older Microsoft Office versions to read newer ones sometimes though.

 

[jayoungatdph]

I've talked to the tape manufacturer. They said there is no problems with using DDS3 for long periods of time in DDS4 drives. They said there was an issue with using DDS2 tapes in DDS3 drives but that is not the case with DDS3 and DDS4.

Thank you, everyone, for your replies. I now feel comfortable replacing our DDS3 drive with a DDS4 unit.

Thanks again.
Jim