Destructive Imaging of DECTAPE II Media

[Mark J. Blair]

> On Jan 28, 2015, at 08:56, Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> wrote:
> I'm guessing the safest way to
> do this will be to cut the band and carefully lift the band and reels off of the hubs, then lay the
> tape out flat on a paper towel and wet the parts that are stuck to the binder.

I think it may be safer to wet the tape (assuming that works) without straightening it first. It seems to me that straightening it could apply enough force along the tape axis to pull off the oxide.

When I get a chance, I'll look through my smallish pile of TU58 tapes to see if I have any other not-so-precious ones with stuck bands to try.

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of trying to boot my VAX from the most precious tapes without any special preparation, so if any of those had stuck but not broken bands, then those tapes have already shed oxide. Hopefully in a non-critical area of the tapes, but Murphy suggests otherwise.

-- 
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/