> >I have had very good experiences with DLT-drives (and 1600bpi 9-tracks :-)
>
> After recently having an HP SureStore DLT 40/80 crap on me (ate the tape,
> and it looks like now the head electronics is fubar) I've lost my faith
> in that technology aswell.  I mean, the thing looks ok from the outside

you should rather blame HP as it makes worst drives.

i had 2 DDS-2 HP drives both failed in 1 year.

while SONY and IBM ones still works - no problels.

> but once you open it and see the primitive and fragile mechanism, I

esp. tape driving is broken on DDS