Destructive Imaging of DECTAPE II Media

[Mark J. Blair]

> On Jan 31, 2015, at 10:47, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
> 
> On 01/31/2015 10:39 AM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
>> Poking around on eBay, I see that there were other brands (Teac,
>> Wangtek, Everex...) of streaming tape backup drives that look like
>> they may have used those audio-cassette-like tapes with the notch on
>> the back edge, much like the TU60. Maybe one of those transports
>> could be adapted for this wacky scheme? I might buy one of the
>> cheaper ones and some matching tapes to experiment with.
> 
> Are you thinking of the DC2000/2100 type drives?  I think that they're a bit too large.  How about, say, an Irwin drive using DC1000 minicarts?

No, I'm thinking of things like Teac MT-2ST drives, using audio-cassette-like CT-600H cartridges. Some random googling suggests that those sorts of drives may move the tape at around 90 ips, so hopefully they don't use capstan and pinch roller drive that's designed for slow audio tape movement. 

I just ordered the cheapest one of those drives listed, and some matching tapes, to experiment with. Maybe it'll provide a better transport than the data logger tape transport that I also have on the way? And either of them might be easier to hack for this project than a regular audio cassette transport that's designed for much slower tape speed.

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