Advice for tape drive repair / maintenance

In article <458747D6.1040100 at hawkmountain.net>, "Curtis H. Wilbar Jr." <rescue at hawkmountain.net> writes: Just spinning it is a factor. I think these materials essentially become metastable over time and that depending on how much bitrot has settled into the piece it may not take much for it to become goo. I mean, just leaving the drive sitting there long enough eventually causes them to become goo, so its not *just* a function of applying heat or pressure to the object. Certainly the more stress you put on it, the higher the likelihood of disintegration. -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>