At 11:12 AM 10/23/2004, you wrote: Like this one? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=25402&item=3… Has "clean" and "strip" buttons on it. Speaking of tapes, anyone have a few extra write rings? If so, please let me know off-list. Thanks, Ed K.

A possible suggestion: "Streaming type" front loader 9 trk drives are a dime-a-dozen - there's a couple on the shlf at WierdStuff for $50 and that's about half too much - but there are plenty of the Cipher 880s, HP and M4 Data drives out there. From my meager knowledge of media rescue, restoration, etc: If the tape is moldy, the first thing would be to bake it dry, in a very slow oven, at about 120 - 140 F and no more, until all of the residual moisture has been driven off. Maybe three or four hours, with the tape out of it's case, natch. Now, inspect the tape by hand, carefully unspooling it until you get to the affected portions. The mold should have been reduced to powder and spores by now. There are a few species of mold that secrete acidic compounds, and a smaller set of these can adversely affect the binders and/or the backing. Chck for discoloration, or degradation of the tape. If you can blow, or gently brush off, the mold residue, and the tape is left shiny and good-looking, then the next step would be to load it into an old tape machine and do a read-to-EOT and rewind. This will naturally make a mess, and I have resorted to raising the top cover, defeating the interlocks, and fixing the hose of a vacuum cleaner near the saphire cleaning knife and headstack, to pull in all the Gunk. Obviously DON'T do this with a machine that needs to be maintained in a good running state, because it definitely get crap all over everything. If you vacuum it up while it's spooling, then you can avoid most of this. If the tape has been physically damaged, either by loose packing or if the mold or bacteria has eaten into the tape, then it can be cleaned with a cloth pad soaked in a mild soap solution and water... many of the 'green' cleaners, either mint or orange, are good for this. You have to spool the tape from the reel, while passing it through the cleaning pad, (which you must check often and re-fold to present a new cleaning surface) and then just let it flow into a tub of clean water. I have spooled tape out into a plastic garbage container full of about 20 gallons of tap water. [If your water is 'hard', like mine is where I live now, you have to be quick with the drying step afterward] NOW - you have to dry it while re-spooling it. I've used a hair dryer and one of those heat-guns for this. It's very labor-intensive, especially rewinding the tape AND getting it to pack properly. If this process is successful, then you can place it on the machine and do the usual FF->EOT and rewind to retension it. Of course, the relative value of the data vs. the amount of pain and suffering you wish to subject yourself to, is a factor in deciding what to keep and what to chuck.... Cheers John