18 Dec
2006
18 Dec
'06
6 p.m.
Joachim Thiemann wrote:
On 12/18/06, Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org>
wrote:
I'd say get the newest drive you can... inspect the roller beforehand...
then run a scrappable tape through it a couple of times... re-inspect the
roller... if ok... then recover your tapes.
I doubt the method you propose would work.... heat is a factor... but
pressure is likely a factor too... probably still make goo... just more
slowly.
This is all my opinion of course.... I'm not saying I'm right... just
how I'd
go about it.
-- Curt
This is the classic failure mode for the rollers.
Pressure/Temperature
causing breakdown of the rubber.
There is no way to prevent it. The rubber had
already decomposed, and
the elevated temperature caused what was left of the bonds to change
state.
Hmmm, my next idea - just for obtaining the data, not the long-term
preservation of the drive - is to write a quick and dirty script or C
program to read the data off the drive slooooowly. After all, it took
a considerable number of minutes of the drive going at full speed to
cause the rubber to fail.
If I read one block, then pause for a bunch of seconds, I think I
could do this in a careful enough matter. The problem is I only have
one shot at this, so I should give a generous cool-off period.
Joe.