The Future of Taping at KPNO

KPNO will continue to meet the needs of its observers for taping their data in a format compatible with what astronomers have at their home institutions, while recognizing that technology changes are reflected in the decreasing availability and increasing expense of maintaining obsolete equipment and supporting legacy media formats.

KPNO currently supports the writing of Exabyte 8200 and DAT (DDS-2) format tapes at all telescopes. Exabyte 8500, DLT, and CD-R are available at certain telescopes or for certain instruments. All of these formats plus nine-track (1/2") tapes are supported downtown at NOAO HQ. All of the above, except DLT and CD-R, are supported in the KPNO Admin building.

We have recently made several decisions on the future of tape drives at KPNO:

1) As of 1 February 1999, Exabyte 8200 format tapes will not be supported at KPNO telescopes. This format is obsolete as it is no longer possible to buy a new tape drive that will write this format. NOAO will support writing 8200 format tapes at the KPNO Admin building and at the Tucson HQ for as long as compatible drives can be maintained and operated affordably. NOAO will support reading 8200 format tapes for as long as compatible drives can be maintained. NOAO provides facilities at HQ to our staff and visitors for copying recently supported, but obsolete format tapes to current tape formats.

2) We commit to support the Exabyte 8500 and DAT DDS-2 formats at all KPNO telescopes for three years beginning 1 February 1998. The computing industry changes at such a rapid pace that the devices and formats that will be popular past 1 February 2001 cannot be predicted.

• The Exabyte model Eliant 820 drives (also known as the 8705) CANNOT WRITE 8200 format. They can ONLY write the 8500 format.

• KPNO will stock 112m Exabyte tapes and 90m DAT tapes that may be purchased by observers; however, we encourage observers to supply their own data-grade media. Observers may choose to bring 160m Exabyte tapes, or 60m or 120m DAT tapes, but should be aware that the longer tapes will not work with all tape drives and that the IRAF `tapemon' program is not configured to report the correct length of the tape or the correct number of megabytes remaining for tapes other than 112m Exabyte and 90m DAT tapes.

• At any given telescope, KPNO may choose to support the Exabyte 8500 format using either an Exabyte model 8500 series or Eliant 820 (or equivalent future model) drive. It is no longer possible to buy an 8500 series drive. As the 8500 series drives break, they will be replaced with Eliant 820 drives rather than being refurbished. The Exabyte Eliant 820 is unofficially called the Exabyte 8705.

• An IRAF "mta" tapecap entry will be provided for the Exabyte 8500 or Eliant 820 drive at each telescope. The default drive will be mta which will write 8500 format tapes. 8500 compressed format tapes are written using the mta8500c alias.

4) We plan to install CD-R writing equipment and software at the 4-m and 2.1-m domes within the next year to determine the demand for this medium. The DVD-R format remains a future possibility.

5) Observers remain ultimately responsible for the safety of their data.

6) KPNO will continue to work with CTIO, NSO, other NOAO branches, and the larger astronomical community to ensure the uninterrupted ability to read and write each other's media and data formats.

Rob Seaman, Steve Grandi, Bruce Bohannan