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