On Sat, 12 Mar 2005, James Fogg wrote: Interesting. Do you remember what computer system you ran it on? It can tend to be really finicky with regards to the speed of the processor. The latest software release (3.31) fixed the problem by allowing you to set the system you were running on (ranging from the original IBM PC through 386/20 and various oddities like a few PS/2 models and the TI Pro) and adapted certain timing loops (I guess) within the software to make everything work right. I tinkered a LOT, and I do mean a LOT, before I got everything working reliably. I had all sorts of problems with the software not recognizing the tape as a file structured backup vs. an image backup, not being able to read the directory, and (tonight) crashing when it lost sync with the blocks. Now I can pretty much dump tapes really well with a 386/33 and the AST 386/25 I'm currently working with. In fact, I just finished dumping another 10 megs of data (this with the card that previously wasn't working); it took 2 hours. I've come to realize that the system is actually rather robust. The quality of the deck and the tapes does make a difference, but my experience tells me that you would only have problems in terms of how many errors it gets when it's attempting to read a tape. I'm working with nearly 20 year old VHS tapes and they are reading really reliably. I'm also using the Videotrax VCR which has a special interface to connect to the interface card so the software can control the VCR remotely (I don't have this hooked-up yet because I need to make the connector cable). But any decent VCR works fine. My next task is trying the one full length interface card I have in a PC/XT, since so far it hasn't worked in anything else (486 all the way down to a 286). I'm pretty sure the card is hosed but I want to at least try it in an IBM XT (true 8-bit ISA architecture) before I write it off. Anyway, I'd really like to know more about your experience if you can remember any details. -- Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org [ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ] [ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]