Sun 595-3478-01 8505XL 8mm Tape Drive Desktop External SCSI 14GB Enclosure

Sun 595-3478-01 8505XL 8mm Tape Drive Desktop External SCSI 14GB Enclosure

The Sun Microsystems 8505XL is an 8mm helical-scan tape drive housed in a self-contained desktop external enclosure with a built-in auto-switching power supply. It connects via SCSI-1 or SCSI-2 and provides up to 14 GB of compressed storage (7 GB native) using standard 8mm tape media — making it a capable backup and archival drive for Sun workstations and servers of its era. The unit carries Sun part number 595-3478-01 and was manufactured in 1992.

Specifications & What's Included

• Manufacturer: Sun Microsystems
• Model: 8505XL (Sun PN 595-3478-01, Model 411, Service Code X834A-ST)
• Type: 8mm Helical Scan Tape Drive in Desktop External Enclosure
• Storage Capacity: 14 GB compressed / 7 GB native (uncompressed)
• Data Transfer Rate: 60 MB/min compressed / 30 MB/min native
• Compression Method: IDRC (Improved Data Recording Capability)
• Recording Method: 8mm helical scan
• Interface: SCSI-1 and SCSI-2 (dual 50-pin Centronics SCSI ports on rear)
• Compatible Media: 8mm 160mXL or 112m tape cartridges
• Internal Drive Form Factor: 5.25-inch half-high
• Power (external enclosure): Independent auto-switching, AC 100–120 / 200–240V, 47–63 Hz, 0.8/0.4A
• Internal Power Consumption: 15 watts typical
• Country of Manufacture: United States (1992)
• Includes: Desktop external enclosure with built-in power supply

Applications

The Sun 8505XL was designed for use with Sun Microsystems workstations and servers — including SPARCstation, SPARCserver, and compatible SCSI-equipped systems — as a primary tape backup and data archival drive. 8mm helical-scan tape drives like this one were the high-capacity backup standard in the early-to-mid 1990s Unix workstation and engineering environment, offering significantly greater capacity than the QIC-format drives they displaced. The SCSI-1/2 interface made them broadly compatible across Sun, SGI, HP, and other Unix platforms of the period. Today these drives are sought after for recovering data from legacy 8mm tape archives, accessing backup sets created on Sun workstations in the 1990s, and maintaining older Sun-based systems still in use. The auto-switching power supply (100–240VAC) allows operation on both North American and international power standards.