At 03:34 PM 3/23/98 -0500, you wrote:
>I use the Iomega Ditto Easy 800 and it works really well.  A little slow,
>and takes me 3+ tape cartridges to do a full backup but as long as it works,

Yes, it is a bit slower than the parallel port Zip drive I was using for
backups, but that was taking me 6 disks to do a full backup where I can fit
a backup of each 1GB partition on a tape.  This is the reason I finally
switched.

>I'm happy.  I'm assuming that you meant that the piece that you found came
>from the door on the tape drive?  If so, I don't believe the door is of any
>value except to keep dust out of the drive.  Keeping a tape inserted in the
>drive will serve the same purpose.  If you meant that it came off of a tape
>cartridge and you aren't using the cartridge that it came off of then you
>should have no worries.
>
No, I don't think the piece came from the door of the tape drive or from
one of the tape cartridges.  I discovered it because after I removed a
tape, the door would not go down all the way as it was blocking the door.
It's black where the door is maroon (I think) unless it came from a hinge.
If you lift the drive door, on the far right side of the opening is an arm
that sticks straight out of the mechanism toward the door.  This arm comes
in contact with the hinged door on the tape cartridge and opens it.  At the
far end of the arm, at about the depth of the read/write head, there
appears to be a small area of shiny metal against the otherwise black metal
where it appears this piece could have come.  It's hard to describe ... I
was hoping someone might have run into this before and know what I was
talking about.  I hate to pay $15 to talk to someone at tech support when
the drive appears to be working fine.