The ADR2. 60USB drive is considerably larger in comparison to the internal ADR2 60ide drive. Other than that, there's not much difference between them. I was really impressed by the commitment Onstream takes to ensure that their products arrive safely at its destination. It was so well packaged, unless due to an act of god, the drive would surely not sustain any physical damage during transit to your location.

As for installing the drive, it's merely a matter of hooking up the USB cable to the computer. First power up the drive with the supplied power cord, then hook up the USB cable. We tested the drive on a Windows XP professional platform and the drive was detected automatically. Thereafter simply insert the driver CD provided and windows will do everything else. One thing I hope Onstream will look into however, is having a more comprehensive manual.

 

What's included

Opening up the box, you're offered the following components;

• ADR2 60USB Digital Tape Drive
• Installation manual
• USB Cable
• 60GB ADR cartridge ( This will have to be purchased separately, even though Onstream included a cartridge along with our drive)
• Power Cable
• TapeWare Extended Edition CD

Summary of Drive's features

• 60GB / 30GB capacity (compressed/native)
• Up to 18 GB/hour (5 MB/sec) data transfer rate with software controlled data compression
• Compatible with Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Professional, Server, Advanced Server and XP Home and Professional
• Hot plugable USB2.0 high speed interface (compatible with USB1.1 interface, performance limited to USB1.1 speed)
• Uses 60GB ADR2 cartridges (separately available)
• Live Software package Yosemite TapeWare XE included. Supports Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Professional, Server, Advanced Server and XP Home and Professional
• ADR2 media features a unique mid-tape directory to cut access times in half
• 2-year warranty

ADR Technology

This is a copy from ADR2 60ide drive we compiled a few months ago.

"Advanced Digital Recording (ADR) is an all-new, variable speed, digital tape storage solution. Initially developed by Philips Electronics and protected by 61 patents (including pending), ADR is based on revolutionary 8-channel array technology that allows the solid-state design to read and write eight tracks of data simultaneously.

This technological breakthrough delivers exceptional transfer rates and data reliability while maximizing media life and minimizing audible noise.

An advanced embedded servo system contributes to high data reliability in two ways. First, it communicates with the head to assure media integrity as it writes data. This is an innovative way to avoid media defects and assure original data is written correctly. Secondly, the servo system prevents the tape from wandering off track, which could make the data unreadable in the future.

OnStream's unique ability to read or write all eight tracks of data simultaneously provides the opportunity to spatially distribute error correction code - both horizontally and vertically.

ADR eight channel
read/write head

 

This greatly enhances the chances for data recovery versus other technologies that use only horizontal methods. The result is a reliability specification of only one unreadable bit in every 1019 bits recorded. That's 10,000 times better than the PC's primary data storage device, the hard drive.

ADR drives employ continuously variable speeds between .5 and 2 MB/sec (with software controlled data compression up to 5MB/sec), making them capable of adjusting to the constantly changing data rate of the system. This feature, acting like a dimmer switch as it accepts data, also helps to decrease wear and noise"