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I remember seeing the original proprietary one with amazing claims of multiple gigabytes on a standard blank VHS cassette, this was in the days of 1.44M floppie

I remember seeing the original proprietary one with amazing claims of multiple gigabytes on a standard blank VHS cassette, this was in the days of 1.44M floppies, 28k modems, and maybe if you were on the cutting edge a 56k modem and 100M zip drive. I never got one, and they clearly didn't sell well as they'd vanished in a couple of years. They were advertised in computer magazines and my local Tandy had them in store. It always annoys me, even now, that tape backup capacities are quoted as the "compressed" volume. Tell me the uncompressed, I know roughly how much my data will compress by (text, sure lots. Already-compressed video? Forget it). Got very irate with vendors when I last looked at LTO tapes around the LTFS/LTO5 time.

neilv 5y ago
Yeah, IIRC, in the '80s, one product was a device for microcomputer backup on VHS tapes that looked pretty much like a normal consumer VCR. (It might've had a brand name beginning with "V" emblazoned across the frontload tape door, I don't really recall.) This might've been roughly around the time that the Iomega Bernoulli Box was being sold, but I assume it had died before before the popular Zip and then Jaz drives. (And of course there were always numerous flavors of tape cartridge systems, and maybe a few of those popular on consumer/office microcomputers.)
- skissane 5y ago
  > (It might've had a brand name beginning with "V" emblazoned across the frontload tape door, I don't really recall.) Alpha Micro Videotrax? https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-11-08-fi-2691-story.html https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-11-08-fi-2691-s... https://tidbits.com/1991/01/07/vcr-backups/ https://tidbits.com/1991/01/07/vcr-backups/ https://twitter.com/Foone/status/1363995216013762565 https://twitter.com/Foone/status/1363995216013762565
  - neilv 5y ago
    That was it! (I regret I have only one upvote to give.) I was thinking "Videotron", but I knew that wasn't it.
doublepg23 5y ago
LGR did a video on the system here: https://youtu.be/TUS0Zv2APjU https://youtu.be/TUS0Zv2APjU

neilv 5y ago

Yeah, IIRC, in the '80s, one product was a device for microcomputer backup on VHS tapes that looked pretty much like a normal consumer VCR. (It might've had a brand name beginning with "V" emblazoned across the frontload tape door, I don't really recall.) This might've been roughly around the time that the Iomega Bernoulli Box was being sold, but I assume it had died before before the popular Zip and then Jaz drives. (And of course there were always numerous flavors of tape cartridge systems, and maybe a few of those popular on consumer/office microcomputers.)

skissane 5y ago
> (It might've had a brand name beginning with "V" emblazoned across the frontload tape door, I don't really recall.) Alpha Micro Videotrax? https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-11-08-fi-2691-story.html https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-11-08-fi-2691-s... https://tidbits.com/1991/01/07/vcr-backups/ https://tidbits.com/1991/01/07/vcr-backups/ https://twitter.com/Foone/status/1363995216013762565 https://twitter.com/Foone/status/1363995216013762565
- neilv 5y ago
  That was it! (I regret I have only one upvote to give.) I was thinking "Videotron", but I knew that wasn't it.

doublepg23 5y ago

LGR did a video on the system here: https://youtu.be/TUS0Zv2APjU https://youtu.be/TUS0Zv2APjU