DAT formating-tool

I'm looking for a free DAT-tape formating tool for an older HP-DAT Drive
35470A

I need to format older DAT-tapes, but have lost an older programm. The
Win2000 save-program-dialog (system programs) does not allow to format a
tape (or ?).
The free HP-program "hp_ltt35sr4_win.exe", which is to be downloaded by
the way "HP-DAT Drive 35470A" says when running: "no support for this
DAT-drive".

Where can I download a free formating-tool?

Thanks

Armin Schulz <> wrote:
> I'm looking for a free DAT-tape formating tool for an older HP-DAT Drive
> 35470A
>
> I need to format older DAT-tapes, but have lost an older programm. The
> Win2000 save-program-dialog (system programs) does not allow to format a
> tape (or ?).
> The free HP-program "hp_ltt35sr4_win.exe", which is to be downloaded by
> the way "HP-DAT Drive 35470A" says when running: "no support for this
> DAT-drive".
>
> Where can I download a free formating-tool?
>
> Thanks

Why would you need to format a DDS [1] tape? A DDS tape does not have
to be low-level formatted. The LLF is written by the drive while the
high-level-format/data format is written by the backup/archive program
in question.

[1] "DAT" is Digital-Analog Tape and is only used for recording sound.
DDS is Digital Data Storage and is used for use with computers and such.
You should not use a DAT tape in a DDS drive (like the 35470A).

Hi Frank,

Frank Slootweg wrote:

> Why would you need to format a DDS [1] tape? A DDS tape does not have
> to be low-level formatted. The LLF is written by the drive while the
> high-level-format/data format is written by the backup/archive program
> in question.
>

I want to sell drive and tapes and want to assure that all the data are
erased.

> [1] "DAT" is Digital-Analog Tape and is only used for recording sound.
> DDS is Digital Data Storage and is used for use with computers and such.
> You should not use a DAT tape in a DDS drive (like the 35470A).

Sorry, I was inexact. I mean DDS-tapes. Colloquial I know the tape
"DDS-drives" by "DAT-drives".

Do you have a large magnet? ... Ben Myers

On Thu, 17 Nov 2005 08:49:49 +0100, Armin Schulz <>
wrote:

>Hi Frank,
>
>Frank Slootweg wrote:
>
>> Why would you need to format a DDS [1] tape? A DDS tape does not have
>> to be low-level formatted. The LLF is written by the drive while the
>> high-level-format/data format is written by the backup/archive program
>> in question.
>>
>
>I want to sell drive and tapes and want to assure that all the data are
>erased.
>
>> [1] "DAT" is Digital-Analog Tape and is only used for recording sound.
>> DDS is Digital Data Storage and is used for use with computers and such.
>> You should not use a DAT tape in a DDS drive (like the 35470A).
>
>Sorry, I was inexact. I mean DDS-tapes. Colloquial I know the tape
>"DDS-drives" by "DAT-drives".

Armin Schulz wrote:
> Hi Frank,
>
> Frank Slootweg wrote:
>
>> Why would you need to format a DDS [1] tape? A DDS tape does not have
>> to be low-level formatted. The LLF is written by the drive while the
>> high-level-format/data format is written by the backup/archive program
>> in question.
>>
>
> I want to sell drive and tapes and want to assure that all the data are
> erased.

You can rewind the tape, then write anything to the tape, such as a filemark.
Any data beyond what was written is inaccessible by normal means. It's a
moderate level of security. On a linux system, you could dd /dev/zero to the
tape device file, which would be very good security. You can also use
a bulk tape eraser, but that erases some low-level logs on the tape. It's
not fatal, but less desirable.

Tapes have a very limited lifetime, I frankly wouldn't buy a used DDS1 tape.
Or 2, or 3. Or a used tape drive, either.


>
>> [1] "DAT" is Digital-Analog Tape and is only used for recording sound.
>> DDS is Digital Data Storage and is used for use with computers and such.
>> You should not use a DAT tape in a DDS drive (like the 35470A).
>
> Sorry, I was inexact. I mean DDS-tapes. Colloquial I know the tape
> "DDS-drives" by "DAT-drives".

They're the same tapes. The DDS branded tapes supposedly are guaranteed
to higher standards, and of course cost more. Since the whole DAT thing
never caught on in a big way, DAT branded tapes are rather rare.

-Dave

Freeware Turbo Tape 2005

http://www.freeware.de/software/down...load_9245.html