SCSI Tape Interface

SCSI Tape Interface (windows only)

Scream can stream incoming data to a SCSI tape device provided:

A SCSI interface is found
A suitable ASPI driver layer is installed
A Tape drive is found on the SCSI bus

If more than one tape drive is fitted, Scream will use the one with the lowest ID.

The Tape menu options will only be enabled if all of the above criteria are met. Several control options are then available:

Record Data – Commences recording of ALL data blocks received, regardless of source. This can be used to transfer SAM disk to tape, or collect network data to tape.
Replay – opens a replay contol for the tape drive, allowing replay of previously recorded data. Do NOT attempt to replay from tape whilst other data is being recorded to tape.
Rewind – rewind tape currently in the drive. If the record option is enabled, recording will resume immediately, over-writing data already on the tape.
Eject – Eject tape currently in the drive

The recording system is designed to allow hot-swapping of tapes at the acquisition computer without any other user interaction. If either an external Eject button is pressed, or the ‘Eject’ menu option selected, Scream will start internally buffering the data until the tape drive is once again ready to accept data.

Whilst this buffering is in progress, the buffer size is indicated in the status bar of the Main window.

Buffering will also occur if the tape drive goes offline for any other reason (eg power failure).

When a tape is replayed, the streams will appear in the Main Window under the ‘files’ branch (in the left pane). These streams can be viewed and recorded to file in the same manner as realtime data.

Note that tape recording and playback should not be attempted simultaneously on the same system, as this would create a contention problem with the tape drive.