1 May
2007
1 May
'07
3:15 p.m.
On 1 May 2007 at 7:47, Richard wrote:
Would it be possible to setup something like the rig
that Al has at
the Computer History Museum for QIC tapes?
Maybe, but I think the best thing to start with would be a standard
3-motor setup (one motor per reel and one on the capstan. You'd have
to remove the tape spools from the cartridge, of course, but I
suspect it might be possible to set something like this up with the
works from an old audio cassette drive.
Tracks on a QIC cart are serpentine--they reverse direction at each
tape end. QIC tape tracks tend to be very narrow, which means that if
you're going to use lower tape speeds, a modern head (GMR?) might be
a good choice.
I don't know why it couldn't be done, but we haven't yet seen a lot
of QIC recovery work to justify this yet. I suspect that DLTwill be
the jackpot medium in data recovery.
They don't use helical scan on QIC tapes do they?
Not on the big carts, but I think there were some helical-scan Travan
tapes, weren't there? And there was the Pereos--thank heavens, the
life on that venture was mercifully short.
Cheers,
Chuck