Solid State Disks Ltd, the advanced storage systems design, development and integration specialist, has launched SCSIFlash-Tape which provides a CompactFlash-based, solid state replacement for traditional SCSI-based, electro-mechanical tape drives on legacy computer-based systems that are either obsolete or nearing the end of their life. SCSIFlash-Tape provides a drop-in replacement for the popular DDS DAT, DLT and QIC tape drives on a variety of host systems.

SCSIFlash-Tape is ideally suited for use in legacy computer-based systems in a range of industries and applications including telecommunications, semiconductor manufacturing, industrial process control, engineering and manufacturing, power generation, oil & gas, military & aerospace, flight simulation and post-production.

SCSIFlash-Tape gives OEMs and service providers a quick, easy and cost efficient solution for supporting their legacy systems. SCSIFlash-Tape’s configurable firmware allows a perfect host match, eliminating the need for any host hardware or software changes. With no software updates or integration required, the host simply sees SCSIFlash-Tape as if it were the original tape drive.

Offering a fast and efficient field replacement, SCSIFlash-Tape’s configurable firmware, which is field upgradeable via an integral USB port, facilitates a perfect match to any host computer system.  TCP/IP networking via standard RJ45 Ethernet connection is also supported, allowing SCSIFlash-Tape to be connected to any existing local area network for remote configuration, control, diagnostics, backup and restore.

SCSIFlash-Tape only requires a 5V power supply and will also fit into a standard floppy disk drive slot using the same fixings. With a small 3.5-inch footprint and using a standard 50 pin SCSI-1 or SCSI-2 connection, SCSIFlash-Tape can be used to replace obsolete 3.5-inch and any larger tape drive using a suitable adaptor. Data transfer rates are up to 6 Mbytes/s sustained. The use of solid state technology also delivers greatly increased reliability (MTBF) and media life, improved environmental efficiency with lower power consumption, noise and heat generation, and a reduction in unplanned downtime.

SCSIFlash-Tape is also available as a network drive upgrade with IP address set up at the factory. This ships complete with Solid State Disks’ FLASH2GUI graphical user interface used for control and configuration of the drive as well as backup and restore operations. FLASH2GUI features multiple login levels to prevent unauthorised use and backup and restore based on the disk image, as well as write protection and erase of the drive contents, along with the ability to set the disk capacity from 1Mb to 64GB, set the drive emulation and the drive’s IP address and name remotely. The image editor controls the backup and restore functionality and includes the ability to view the drive image contents, extract files, folders or the entire disk contents, add and remove files and folders from the disk, add new software install files, and create a new formatted drive.

“The mechanical life-span of a tape drive can be dramatically shortened by continual tape repositioning (shoe-shining) usually caused by the mismatches in the data transfer performance between the tape drive and the host computer,” said James Hilken, Sales Director of Solid State Disks Ltd. “This results in tape debris constantly clogging the gaps between tape heads. As a solid state drive with no moving parts, SCSIFlash-Tape provides the ideal plug and play replacement solution.”