OVERVIEW MLR UTILITY DISKETTE VER 1.0

The MLR utility diskette contains four DOS
utilities for maintaining the MLR tape 
storage solution. These utilities make use of
a installed SCSI controller and ASPI the utilities
are as follows:

MLRUPLD.EXE: A utility for firmware uploads
this utility is used in conjunction with a Tandberg
firmware file with a .bin extension

SENSE.EXE: A utility for sensing the SCSI ID
(Address) of any attached devices you may have.
Note that currently this utility will only sense
up to SCSI ID seven.

MLRDIAG.EXE: A utility for running a extensive
selftest on the MLR1 drive. Note that a blank MLR1
tape must be installed inside of the drive to perform
the write/read portion of the test. This test will
take approximately 30 minutes to complete.
 WARNING THIS TEST DESTROYS USER
DATA do not use a cartridge which contains
critical data!


OVERVIEW MLRSETUP.EXE

MLRSETUP.EXE is a DOS executable utility which allows you 
to optimize operation of the Tandberg MLR1 tape storage 
solution to your computer system. In order to make
use of this utility you must have a ASPI compatible SCSI
controller and the ASPI driver running in memory. 
Consult your SCSI controller documentation for 
more information on ASPI and installation procedures. 

The utility works by sending SCSI mode select
information to the MLR1 tape drive. The setup utility 
will allow you to select one of four operation modes
for the drive. These modes are retained even during
power off, so once the optimum setting is found it is not
necessary to run the utility again. Note that some tape
application software may override some of the settings
during operation.

RUNNING THE UTILITY

The utility is run by typing MLRSETUP.EXE at the DOS 
prompt. The utility will ask for the current tape drive SCSI 
address of  your MLR1 drive. After entering the correct 
SCSI address number Nine lines of tape drive configuration
information will be displayed followed by the prompt question:

Compression Mode?    0: OFF
	                      1: ON

IF YOU MAKE SELECTION 0 (Zero) AT THE
COMPRESSION MODE QUESTION

A selection of  (0) zero will turn off the hardware data
compression inside of the drive if it is turned on (The default
compression setting is on for the MLR1 solution), if the
hardware compression was already off the command will 
have no effect. The MLR1 drive will provide 13 GB of 
native data storage capacity on a standard MLR1 tape in this 
mode. This mode is useful when the application or 
computing environment can not make use of compressed
data format or the data is already compressed via another
means such as MPEG files. 

With data compression disabled the drive will support a
1.5 Megabyte per second sustained data transfer rate 
from the host. If the host computer/application is unable
to support the 1.5 MBS rate a situation termed data
underrun will occur. Depending on the severity of the
underruns both data storage capacity and transfer rate
performance will suffer. Severe underrun situations will
cause a average of 30% capacity loss and result in data
throughput of 10 Megabytes per minute or less. 

Another option will be presented when a selection of 
zero (compression off) is made, the option is:

Automatic Performance Control?	0: OFF
				1: ON

A selection of zero (0) in the Automatic Performance 
Control will not alter the performance characteristics 
as described in the previous section However a selection
of one (1) will enable a feature called AVC in the drive. 

AVC or automatic velocity control will automatically 
vary the tape speed in the drive to better match the host 
system data transfer rate. In this mode the drive will select 
either a 1.5 Megabyte per second or 750 Kilobyte per 
second transfer rate. The transfer rate selection is based 
on how full of data the host computer is maintaining 
the MLR1 drives data buffer. If the buffer is empty
when the AVC algorithm checks and the drive is in
high speed mode (1.5 MBS) the drive will change to
 low speed  mode (750 KBS).


This mode is the best suited for use with low performance
computer systems which may not be able to match
the sustained data transfer rate of the MLR1 drive. 
Underrun situations will still have the same effect
as described when compression is enabled.


IF YOU CHOOSE SELECTION 1 (One) AT THE
COMPRESSION MODE QUESTION

A selection of (1) one will enable the hardware data
compression built into the MLR1 drive. The Automatic
Performance control option question will not be presented
however three more mode options will be presented as follows:


Choose one of the these options:
	1>Maximum Performance.
	2>Maximum Capacity.
	3>Balance Performance/Capacity.

Selection (1) one will enable the maximum performance 
mode of the drive. The drive will support a 3 Megabyte
per second sustained data rate in this mode and a average 
of 26 GB of data storage capacity. The drive will support
down to a 2.5 Megabyte per second sustained data rate
without underuns but with some storage capacity loss. 
This mode is best for very  high performance Pentium
class computer systems with FAST/WIDE buses and 166
MHz plus microprocessors. Inability for the computer to 
maintain a 2.5 Megabyte per second data rate will result
in poorer data throughput performance and data storage
capacity then the Maximum Capacity mode.

Selection (2) two will enable the maximum capacity
mode of the drive. The drive will support a data transfer
rate between 3.0 and 1.5 MBS and a average of 26 GB
of storage capacity. Inability of the host computer to
maintain a 1.5 Megabyte per second or greater transfer
rate will result in poor data throughput but with much
lower data storage capacity loss then the maximum
performance mode. This mode is useful for lower 
performance Pentium class computers.

Selection (3) three will enable the balanced capacity and
performance mode of the drive. This mode will support  a
sustained data transfer rate between 3.0 and 1 MBS
with a balance between capacity and performance. This
mode is useful if you are not sure of the capabilities of 
your host system.  

     


