Microsoft KB Archive/156363

= Tape and Drive Compatibility for QIC 117 Standard Tape Backup Units =

Article ID: 156363

Article Last Modified on 11/1/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q156363



SUMMARY
Compatibilty and tape capacity for QIC 117 standard tape backups depend on the floppy disk drive controller, tape format, and the tape backup unit.



MORE INFORMATION
The controller requirements for floppy disk drive-based backups are as follows:

QIC117 Standard     Supported Tape Formats

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==     ====================== QIC-40               Read/write QIC-40 tapes

QIC-80              Read QIC-40 tapes Read/write QIC/80 tapes Includes WIDE and TR-1 formatted tapes

QIC-3010            Read QIC-40/80 tapes Read/write QIC-3010 tapes Includes WIDE and TR-2 formatted tapes if the drive will accept these

QIC-3020            Read QIC-40/80 tapes and QIC-3010 tapes Read/write QIC-3020 tapes Includes WIDE and TR-3 tapes

To determine the computer's floppy disk drive controller type through the Windows NT registry, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

ARTICLE-ID: 156362

TITLE : Floppy Controller Requirements for QIC-117

QIC drives will not read tapes formatted with a later QIC Drive series format. For example, QIC-3010 drives will not read QIC-3020-formatted tapes. QIC-40/80 drives will not read QIC-3010 or QIC-3020-formatted tapes.

The drive's functionality and capacity are limited to the lowest common denominator of floppy disk drive controller speed, tape backup unit, or the tape format itself. A QIC-3020 that requires a 1 Mbps controller for full functionality essentially becomes a QIC-3010 series drive when placed on a 500 Kbps controller (and shares the same behavior and limitations as a 3010 Series drive). Compatibility and limitations are summarized in the chart below:

                     Tape Format QIC117 Standard      40      80     3010    3020

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==      =========================== 40                    RW      x      x       x 80                    R       RW     x       x 3010                  R       R      RW      x 3020                  R       R      R       RW

x = unsupported configuration

Additional query words: tape travan wide qic117 backup

Keywords: kbhardware KB156363

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