Are DEC TK50/TK70 tapes worth hanging onto?

[B M]

Thomas,

I could use a few TK50 tapes, especialy it it has install for VMS!  I am
currently looking for a Microvax II system :-)

Thanks!

--barrym

On Tue, Oct 18, 2016 at 2:05 PM, william degnan <billdegnan at gmail.com>
wrote:

> On Tue, Oct 18, 2016 at 11:32 AM, Thomas Dzubin <dzubint at vcn.bc.ca> wrote:
>
> >
> > OK, I have a fairly large collection of VAX 4000 and VAXStation 3000
> > systems which I have fun with and use with both OpenVMS and OpenBSD
> > over the years....
> >
> > But, I also have two big rubbermade containers (about half a cubic
> > meter) filled with TK50 and TK70 tapes which I have never used.
> >
> > Some are blank, some are the boot & install media for VMS 5.5, some are
> > software installations, etc. etc.
> >
> > In the past 25 years that I have had them, I have not once ever used
> > my TK50 or TK70 drives...I've always either booted off the attached
> > disks or netbooted.
> >
> > Should I just throw these things out?   Do any collectors consider them
> > to be valuable?   Since it's now 2016 and I think the last TK tapes were
> > made in the 1990s, I'm getting the urge to toss them.
> >
> > Opinions?  Comments?
> >
> >
> >
> Good question, there are those capstans that may not hold their shape,
> ruining the tapes.  I have a box of RK05s, one has VMS 4.6 label, no idea
> if it works.  But there it is.
> b
>