Also, many tapes (depending on make and age) can actually be so brittle that during the read the material seperates from the transport, not a pretty sight. -- What appears to happen is the adhesion to the previous layer of tape is greater than to the original, and it strips the oxide and binder to clear mylar (not a pretty sight or sound). I have become VERY cautious when working with old floppies and tapes and assume that I will only get one pass at recovering the data. For discs, you want to keep the heads moving. I've crashed a LOT of disc packs by staying on a single track too long.