12 Jun
2000
12 Jun
'00
11:42 p.m.
On Mon, 12 Jun 2000, Craig Smith wrote:
Sounds like the oxide is crapped out and starting to
come off [on your
heads!]. I ran across the same thing with a big box of HP
cassettes--only about 6 out of 50 or so were even remotely usable [and
they had been stored in the original storage boxes in reasonable
environmental conditions for the last 20 years]. Doesn't bode well for
the future of tape media.
Not at all... for long-term storage of those important files, perhaps
periodic backups to good-quality magtape (1/2" reel to reel) is the
safest solution. ...but storage of data onto multiple hard drives and
backed up regularly onto two different types of modern media (e.g. 4mm
and 8mm cartridges), and changing to a new type of media before what
was being used becomes obsolete, is the safest bet.
Of course, that doesn't solve the problem of deteriorating media that
we need to use with our older computer systems. At this point,
fortunately, many forms of media, although becoming expensive, such as
8" floppies, are still available. Has compaq stopped the manufacture of
many forms of DEC media that were available in the recent past?
Interestingly, I've been able to read DC300 cartridges from around
1982, yet, I've had a copy of one tape, copied onto a relatively new
DC300XL cartriodge, go bad: the tape stuck together and then was torn
apart. :-(
--
R. D. Davis
rdd(a)perqlogic.com
http://www.perqlogic.com/rdd
410-744-4900