Seagate STT8000A manual Introduction, Drive overview

IntroductionChapter 1

Introduction 1

Drive overview

The Seagate STT8000A ATAPI minicartridge drive extends the Seagate family of one-inch high, DC2000 drives that feature high performance, high reliability, and quiet operation. The drive transfers data at up to 36 megabytes per minute (Mbytes/min) without compression. With optimal system resources and compressible data structures, nominal transfer rates of up to 60 Mbytes/min can be observed using software data compression (assumes 2:1 compression ratio).

Data compression is available within the Seagate Backup software package for DOS and Windows and typically provides for up to a 2:1 compression ratio. The compression ratio is dependent on the specific system and the nature of the files being compressed.

This drive optimizes throughput through the Seagate feature FastSenseTM. This feature enables the drive to automatically sense the fastest supportable data transfer rate of the host system and choose a transfer speed of either 600, 450, or 300 kilobytes/second (Kbyte/sec). This process maximizes system throughput by eliminating tape repositioning, which is typically required when the tape drive operates faster than the host computer.

This drive is available as an internal device in either a 3.5-inch or half-high 5.25-inch configuration. The drive form factors are tailored for easy installation in today's computers.

The drive supports the QIC-3095 format standard and will provide 4 gigabytes uncompressed storage capacity, 8 gigabytes compressed, with a Travan TR-4 cartridge.

The drive will also write and read tapes conforming to the QIC-3080 standard, providing 1.6 and 2.0 gigabytes respectively on 400 foot minicartridges or 400 foot QIC-Wide cartridges.

A precision burst intelligent positioning system is used to achieve high track densities.

STT8000A Product Manual Page 1