5 Feb
2006
5 Feb
'06
2:40 a.m.
On Fri, 3 Feb 2006, Joe R. wrote:
Don't bother with the old HP tapes. I've
never seen a one that worked
more than a couple of days, even NOS ones. And I've tried dozens of them. I
My old ones (over 20 years old) work flawlessly. And my NOS ones (3M) work
nicely, too. I use them regularly to load some simple programs into a
HP1000 system or to transfer files between HP1000 and UNIX.
even got a hold of a SEALED case of 100 new sealed
tapes and even those
were useless. The old DECassette tapes hold up pretty good and some of the
old 40Mb DC 2 something,something,something tapes used in the early PC
tape drives will also work in the HPs and about half of them that you find
are good. Again this has been covered extensively on this list and should
be in the archives.
?!?!?
The 40MB cartridges (DC-2000) and up do *not* work in those HP drives
because they are too big. The tape's 0.25" in these cartridges (QIC), the
tape used with the HP drives is called DC-100 and its tape is much
smaller (about half the height). A DC-2000 or so called QIC-80 cartridge
won't even fit mechanically into a HP drive.
On the other hand I would be very happy if someone gave me 100 new or used
DC-100 tapes; they are *very* rare, at least where I am. The only thing
you have to do with tapes that haven't been used for a long time is to
unstick the belt from the spools by heating the cassette. After that they
work just fine.
Christian