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I just made my first DLT master. A few questions before I send it off…
After getting A LOT of great answers to many questions on this board I’ve finally finished up my first DVD project that will be replicated. I bought a Quantum 20/40GB DLT IV drive on eBay and got some Fuji 40/80 tapes.
For the first time I selected the “DVD Master” option in Encore and it saw the DLT drive, and wrote the project to tape. When it was done it said it was successful and ejected the tape. So I guess it worked!
Here’s my first question:
I didn’t realize you can’t look at the contents of a DLT tape through “My Computer” in Windows. I did some searches and saw references to Retrospect, which is software for reading DLT tape, but I wasn’t able to find anyone actually selling it online. Is there any other way to see what’s on the tape and be able to access it to erase the contents? I did a test of a small DVD project that I DON’T need on DLT and I’d like to get it off since those tapes are pricey! If Retrospect is the way to go, where can I buy it? All the links I found seemed to be dated and there weren’t any new versions available to buy.My second question:
Is there anything else I should be aware of with making DLT masters? The process seemed pretty straightforward, but I’ve never done this before and I’ve never had any experience with tape drives so I want to make sure I don’t make too many rookie mistakes.My third question:
Speaking of my inexperience with tape drives, do the settings on the front of the drive relating to the density have any bearing on making a master? There is a button for “Density Select” on the front of the unit and lights next to the following settings, 2.6, 6.0, 10.0/15.0, 20.0, Compress. Hitting the button cycles through various combinations of those settings.I apologize if all of these are silly DLT rookie questions! Thanks for any input.
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4 Replies
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[FischTale] “Is there any other way to see what’s on the tape and be able to access it to erase the contents?”
A couple of the high-end DVD authoring systems allow you to read as well as write DLT. For the most part, there are few reasons to read the data of a DVD project from the tape. The whole DLT writing process is about as bullet-proof as can be. Most authoring packages are verifying that the data written to the tape matches the data on the harddrive. Of the many hundreds of DLTs I have sent to be replicated only one has ever come back as bad. (It is the only one for which I ever skipped the verification process. I’ll never do that again! Murphy was an optimist.) That’s an additional beauty of this data transfer technology. The replicator will know if the data read from the tape is correct due to built in error detection/correction.
As far as erasing the contents of a DVD project DLT I have two comments. The first is, Don’t Do It! Why? Because the DLT should be thought of as the archival master of the DVD. Most replicators do not save the glass master after the run is complete. They would prefer to create a new one for each run from a DLT.
My second comment is that all the DVD authoring applications rewind and over-write the contents of the DLT. There is no such thing as a multsession DLT when it comes to DVD images. IOW, there is no need to erase DLT tapes.
If you really think you want/need to access a DVD image on a DLT tape the only third party software that I know of is Gear Pro Mastering Edition. Retrospect is designed for reading/writing drive backup data – not for DDP data images of DVD discs.
[FischTale] “Is there anything else I should be aware of with making DLT masters?”
If you let your authoring software do all the work and didn’t have any error messages during the process you should be good to go. Stop worrying so much.
[FischTale] ” do the settings on the front of the drive relating to the density have any bearing on making a master?”
Not really. The are mostly used to cram more data on the tape when backing up hard drives and servers and such. Since you will never write more than 4.7GB to a DLT used for DVD images there is no need to use the hgher density settings. I suggest you use the default density setting.Hope this helps.
Dave
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Thanks Dave! You’re right, I shouldn’t worry so much! I guess I just have to get used to letting the software do its job! I’m too used to burning a disc that I could then pop back in and check. I expected this process to be some complicated mystery but it’s actually super simple!
The only reason I wanted to erase the DLT was because I just opened up the most recent DVD project and created a master for that as a test. I don’t actually want that project on DLT. From what you’re saying, I should be able to put the tape back in and make the master of the correct project which will write over the existing project on the tape.
Thanks for all your answers!
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[fischtale] “I should be able to put the tape back in and make the master of the correct project which will write over the existing project on the tape.”
Yes, that is the case.
Dave
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You’ll find more information on making DVD DLT masters and verification here: http://www.dvdverification.com
It seems to be simple, but there are a lot of things you have to beware.
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