Re: Tape, was Single User

On 19 May 2022 21:30:10 -0400
"John Levine" <johnl@iecc.com> wrote:

> It appears that Steve O'Hara-Smith <steve@sohara.org> said:
> >On 19 May 2022 20:49:51 -0000
> >"John Levine" <johnl@iecc.com> wrote:
> >
> >> The thing in the picture isn't paper tape, it's a 1/2" magnetic tape.
> >> It looks relatively new, 1970s rather than 1950s so it is likely
> >> recorded 9 bits across (8 plus parity) at a density of 1600 or 6250
> >> BPI.
> >
> >	I didn't look at the picture. That could be a *lot* harder to
> >	read
> >even if you have a drive. I've heard tell of tapes that could only be
> >read once due to storage damage rendering them more than a little
> >fragile.
> 
> I would be surprised if it were readable at all. After fifty years the
> oxide can come unglued from the backing, and there is a lot of
> magnetic print-through between adjacent layers of tape. It was common
> knowledge that if you cared about your tape files, you needed to
> recopy and verify them every so many years.

	I'd contact the folks at bitsaavers if it were mine, they have
experience of rescuing tapes that have been untouched for decades.

-- 
Steve O'Hara-Smith <steve@sohara.org>