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Author Topic: FireWire tape drives  (Read 1799 times)

dressupgeekout

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FireWire tape drives
« on: June 19, 2024, 12:10:05 PM »

I've got a VXA-2e external tape drive. It connects with FireWire only, no SCSI. Official drivers are really difficult to find for this thing, but I've managed to track down some software and documentation. I tried to get it up and running with my Windows XP machine, because that's the only computer I have at the moment with FireWire -- but I can't get it to work. Pretty sure it's a software problem on the Windows side, I have no reason to suspect it's e.g. a mechanical issue with the drive itself.

The good news is that I've got a Quicksilver G4 tower on the way, which of course comes with FireWire and gives me another chance to get this drive functional. Has anyone gotten a tape drive to communicate with classic Mac OS over FireWire before?
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DieHard

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Re: FireWire tape drives
« Reply #1 on: June 19, 2024, 03:19:04 PM »

If I remember the drive itself is an 8mm SCSI (even though it has a controller connected via FW)

OK, just to play devil's advocate... in 2024 there are cheap and more efficient ways (much faster that 8mm tape) to backup Mac OS 9.

Start with an external FW caddy/case that supports 2.5 SATA drives and then buy various dirt cheap SSD drives (240 GB about $24); if possible pick a case that has easy dis-assembly or tool-lees drive removal...

now you have various approaches...

For an exact clone that will even mirror drives with copy protected music programs use the Apple ASR software; for full and incremental backups with catalogs use "Retrospect"

For manual OS9 Backups, Format the external drive with multiple volumes and just drag the folders.
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ssp3

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Re: FireWire tape drives
« Reply #2 on: June 20, 2024, 07:27:13 AM »

Start with an external FW caddy/case that supports 2.5 SATA drives and then buy various dirt cheap SSD drives (240 GB about $24); if possible pick a case that has easy dis-assembly or tool-lees drive removal...

My favourite external FW toy for all OSes is this one
https://www.freecom.com/product/hard-drive-dock-quattro-35296/
It's OS9 bootable and produces no data transfer errors, even with problematic G4 FW800 PowerBooks.
« Last Edit: June 20, 2024, 01:38:25 PM by ssp3 »
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DieHard

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Re: FireWire tape drives
« Reply #3 on: June 20, 2024, 08:12:46 AM »

Quote
My favourite external FW toy for all OSes is this one
https://www.freecom.com/product/hard-drive-dock-quattro-35296/

That looks so awesome, thanks for sharing :)
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IIO

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Re: FireWire tape drives
« Reply #4 on: June 20, 2024, 08:41:03 AM »

there are not that many docking stations with firewire, and freecom is definetly one of the better names, they also make great regular enclosures.
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Philgood

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Re: FireWire tape drives
« Reply #5 on: June 25, 2024, 05:44:48 AM »

That Freecom is nice looking. Thanks.
I have a IDE,Sata USB2 adapter from Freecom and it is rocksolid. Serving me since more than 15 years. I have a docking station from a manufacture named something with -ice-, can’t remember at the moment the exact name and while it’s USB3 and have a metal construction I always kept coming back to the Freecom because I had more luck with it transferring old hard drives.
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smilesdavis

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Re: FireWire tape drives
« Reply #6 on: June 25, 2024, 06:27:21 AM »

10.4+ where does it say os9
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