Real tape drive densities [was RE: Oregon Pascal tape found]

[Rich Alderson]

From: Christian Corti
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2016 2:28 AM

> On Tue, 9 Feb 2016, Pete Lancashire wrote:

>> There are a few odd balls in 9-track as well, but the 556 was a typo.

> Really?

> I actually *do* have a 9 track tape drive (HP 7970) that has 200/556/800 
> bpi densities:

> http://computermuseum.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pics/hp1000/hp7970_2.jpg

> And it is a *9* track tape, I know for sure.

Actually, what you have is a *dual-density* tape drive, an HP7970E.  It
will write 9-track tapes at 800bpi, or 7-track tapes at 200, 556, or 800.

See the manual for the 7970 drive family at

http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/hp/tape/7970/07970-90885_7970oper_Dec76.pdf

                                                                Rich


Rich Alderson
Vintage Computing Sr. Systems Engineer
Living Computer Museum
2245 1st Avenue S
Seattle, WA 98134

mailto:RichA at LivingComputerMuseum.org

http://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/