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A StorageTek 9490 cartridge

Posted by LaundryMan2008@reddit | vintagecomputing | View on Reddit | 20 comments

The cartridge has 36 tracks and holds 1.6GB, it's a cartridge specially for the 9490 drive. The libraries that these were used in were mainly Timberline and some Wolfcreek libraries.

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LaundryMan2008@reddit (OP)

I have heard the drives used a pneumatic system like the IBM 3590 and 3480 which is what this format was based on for loading the tape and spinning the reels. Yet again, I find tape so damn cool
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DeepDayze@reddit

I remember those square 3590s and 3480s too back in the late 90s when running mainframes for a manufacturer and these were in a tape library device. DLT's were similar but in a larger and thicker cartridge
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LaundryMan2008@reddit (OP)

You might have the sizes mixed up as I have a DLT tape and it’s square and quite small compared to the IBM tapes that I have. I wish to be able to get a drive for the IBM 3590 or 3592 as I have tapes with seismic data on them that I’m really curious to see what it looks like and to be able to play with them but for now my eyes are set on the StorageTek 9940 drive and then the Sony SAIT drive mainly for their complexity
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DeepDayze@reddit

You can't put the 3x90s into a DLT drive and vice versa :-) If you could snag that drive for a good price from a used data center equipment supply house or even on eBay that would be cool and I think you can attach that drive to a PC or home server.
View on Reddit #59964274

LaundryMan2008@reddit (OP)

I have finally found a £50 version of the IBM 3590, there is the exact same listing from another company for the usual £2000 price tag they come with which does ship to the UK, the £50 one however doesn’t but I’m willing to pay the exorbitant (possibly £100 - £200) charges as the next cheapest is £750
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LaundryMan2008@reddit (OP)

Obviously it wouldn’t fit or work, I would be getting the IBM drives for the 3480/3490/3590/3592 tapes as I already have DLT and LTO. The IBM drives (at least anything ending in 90) are quite expensive and some are missing the bezel, screen and buttons which makes configuring and controlling then impossible, I will snag one if I see one for very cheap, my work experience also gets old stuff infrequently so when I do come back the following year they might have a tape drive for me to take home, there is also a more obscure drive called the 3570 which is a lot cheaper but still at £500 I would leave it as one or the endgame drives along with the 3590, DTF and Redwood SD-3. Closest thing to the older drives that I’m happy getting is the IBM 3592 TS-1130 drive, I chose this model due to the widest compatibility with as many tape cartridges as I can in case my tape is formatted in say TS-1120 format so I can read it, I might get a J1A first to play with and understand it before getting the real thing but as it stands I have some drives that take priority like the 9940 also from StorageTek and the Sony SAIT (not the regular 8mm AIT) due to their complex mechanisms with the SAIT having no images of the inside at all let alone a video so paying £180 (there is a £100 one that’s broken thatI can try to fix but SCSI isn’t worth fighting against so I will cough up £80 more for the convenience of FC) for one will be more than worth it.
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NotMyName_3@reddit

I remember the HP washing machine tape libraries, before going to the LTOs
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DeepDayze@reddit

Same here, and IBM's automated tape libraries were even bigger.
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Ok_Spite7511@reddit

Love the old Storage Tek stuff! My father worked for them repairing tape drives and more for many years.
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LaundryMan2008@reddit (OP)

I’m actually getting a T9940A drive to play with! Will be lots of fun watching the mechanism do it’s thing loading a tape, I already saw a video without audio and it was grainy but it showed me what I might be in for
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Ok_Spite7511@reddit

You’ll have to make a post when you get it, that will be lots of fun!
View on Reddit #60386481

LaundryMan2008@reddit (OP)

That’s the video I saw which hooked me: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1NsTWkkwZfY&pp=ygUQU3RvcmFnZXRlayB0OTk0MA%3D%3D I will deck it out with 30 tapes and a fast FC card which I already have, I will need to figure out powering it and the drivers/software if it had any diagnostic tools, maybe you should ask your father if he does have any software to get any software I might need for this drive and any other drives (looking at getting a Sony SAIT afterwards, not the regular 8mm AIT). looking at getting the one spool Sony SAIT (not the regular 8mm AIT) as it’s helical scan and one spool so I want to see how it works and loads the tape as the only other drive is a Redwood SD-3 which is hyper secret rare to find and it’s quite big while SAIT is a small 5.25” drive compared to it.
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Specific-Umpire-8199@reddit

Worked with IBM 3480s and Storage Tech devices that used this format back in my mainframe days. The first robot systems I used had this format though we also had hopper systems. IRS still use these
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LaundryMan2008@reddit (OP)

Did you deal with 4480/4490 or Redwood SD-3 drives from StorageTek? If you have a SD-3 cartridge to spare for my data storage mediums collection then that would be a godsend as it’s one of my white whale mediums, I think the 4480/4490 tapes are just the same shape as the one in the post image but would also like to see an image of one as I never saw what tapes the first StorageTek drives used.
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Specific-Umpire-8199@reddit

I don't collect equipment - just worked on it back in the day
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LaundryMan2008@reddit (OP)

I was thinking more of a memento of an old system that got decommissioned like maybe keeping a tape or grabber from the system 
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Mindless_Pilot_5739@reddit

I used to support these devices for Sun many moons ago.
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Mastermind763@reddit

Seems pretty similar to LTO, was it the inspiration?
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LaundryMan2008@reddit (OP)

This tape format was based off the IBM 3480, the next format after the 3480 is the 3490 and then the 3590, between the 3590 and 3592 is when LTO got released, IBM essentially reused the mechanism from the full height LTO drive for the 3592 with some extensive modifications to allow for a more gentle tape path, better processing (can also read and format past generation tapes to have more capacity which LTO tried not to do but did with M8) and I/O, a full on VFD display and a much more different head design to allow for higher capacities and a larger 3480 size cartridge to hold more tape in it, LTO’s inspiration mainly came when IBM went to HP and Seagate which were actually working on a drive so they collaborated and took more companies on to make the consortium as they felt the proprietary drives and high prices could be beaten easily. Current capacity of LTO-9 is 18TB and 3592 TS-1170 at 50TB per tape, I had a dream where I was touring IBM and saw a similar to 3592 drive, also full height but it took cartridges that had 1” tape in it, I watched the back of the drive spooling on the wide tape, imagine the capacity of one of those chonkers if they do decide to make it a reality.
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H3rbert_K0rnfeld@reddit

[GlassBridge/Imation Corp wili](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlassBridge_Enterprises)
View on Reddit #59959667