21 Nov
2012
21 Nov
'12
1:09 p.m.
Chris Elmquist wrote:
I've recently restored a DEC TU58 dual-transport
tape system but am
finding that 30+ year old DC100A cartridges are perhaps past the end of
their useful life.
[...]
I am not interested in preserving the data on the
tapes as much as I
am interested in just having working tapes...
To have working tapes, you MUST preserve at least some of the "data" on
the tapes. The TU58 is not capable of formatting a blank or non-TU58 tape.
There apparently was some non-standard TU58 firmware that could format
tapes, but no one seems to actually have it.
The hardware is simple enough that I've considered writing formatter
firmware myself, but that's one of a zillion projects that I haven't
gotten around to.