23 Jun
2005
23 Jun
'05
12:02 a.m.
I was thinking, what if we reverse the tape, so that
the magnetic
head come in contact with the plastic backing and not the oxide.
Would it be possible to read the data then?
Nice idea, but, signal strength at the head varies with the square
of the distance between oxide and head, hence the need for
contact. If it were readily possible it would have been done from
the start -- it would eliminate contact wear. Finally, it's tape
flexing that knocks the oxide off, and spooling the tape
*probably* does most of the damage, thoguh not scraping it across
a head probably *would* help.