Dennis Boone wrote:
If he wants to do it himself, SCSI 9-track drives (e.g. DEC TSZ07
units, or Overland hardware) do trade on eBay.
Having read a few hundred old tapes, I would not recommend the TSZ07.
It's a nice drive, easy to clean, works well with scsi, etc... but it's
not very good with older tapes. Works fine with new tapes. The tape
path puts a lot of tension on the tape over the heads and it will shut
down easily.
I don't have any experience with overland drives.
I recently got a "Sun badged HP 88780". This drive is *much* better. It
seems to be easier on the tapes and much more robust in the face of
problems. I've had very good luck reading old tapes with it. It's easy
to clean and service and the scsi works well.
There's another discussion about tape baking which should be inserted
here but I believe it's in the archives (as long as you search between
11pm - 2pm :-)
-brad