18 Jan
2016
18 Jan
'16
8:33 a.m.
On 01/18/2016 04:39 AM, Dave G4UGM wrote:
I know that tapes have different coatings, so some are
ferrous and other chrome based, but what about the backing and "glue" that holds
the two together?
There was a tape sold by a few manufacturers (I think 3M's
was called Black Watch) that had a coarse black matte finish
on the back side. A problem with some drives which had fast
rewind speeds was that air was trapped in the tape wind, and
then once a bunch more layers of tape was wound on the reel,
the tape wrap would cinch and fold over a piece of tape.
This matte finish was supposed to cure that, and I think it
did. But, that finish was not as durable as the magnetic
coating, and would start to shed all over the drive, leaving
stuff on the data surface. I think about 5 years after the
stuff came out, most data centers searched out and trashed
all these tapes.
Jon