Value of 7-track TU10

Paul Koning paulkoning at comcast.net
Mon Sep 19 18:42:34 CDT 2016


> On Sep 19, 2016, at 12:34 PM, Noel Chiappa <jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu> wrote:
> 
> So what do people think the (monetary) value of a 7-track TU10 master drive
> is? I have no idea what these older vacuum-column drives are worth - don't
> recall ever seeing on for sale. This one is in good condition, and has all its
> Flip Chips.  The 7-track is a plus in some ways (rarer), and negative in
> others (can't read old 9-track tapes, which are probably more common than
> 7-track).

I don't know either, but I can say this much:

7 track tape drives are quite rare.  7 track data is not all that common either, but it shows up from time to time.  There are plenty of 9 track tapes out there; the ability to reach 9 track media is not at risk.  But for 7 tracks, it might well be.  In other words, it would be a very good idea to see this drive preserved.

Along those lines, a project I'm working on has turned up a number of 7 track tapes, possibly 556 bpi though that is not entirely clear.  They are in Europe, where searches for working 7 track setups have come up empty.  Can anyone offer pointers?  Will it take shipping the media to another continent to get the data preserved?

	paul




More information about the cctech mailing list