4 ms·
I have a 9-track CCT tape reader/writer which I've used for tapes going back to 1982 or so. I'm kind of surprised that a 1973 tape is 9-track and not 7-track, b
by Tor3 11mo ago
I have a 9-track CCT tape reader/writer which I've used for tapes going back to 1982 or so. I'm kind of surprised that a 1973 tape is 9-track and not 7-track, but then again I'm not certain when the change to 9-track happened. In any case, after cleaning the tape heads with a now illegal fluid all the reading issues I had at first disappeared, and I managed to retrieve the content of every tape I tried, from various minicomputers (some of them DEC).
- davidwritesbugs 11mo ago"illegal fluid" what would that be? And why illegal? And do you submit the recovered data anywhere, for data archaeological purposes? Seems an important thing.
- HotGarbage 11mo agoAmyl nitrate aka poppers
- Andrex 11mo agoTechnically not illegal from my understanding.
- dtgriscom 11mo agoperhaps benzine, or some other serious solvent that is now known to be hazardous?
- CamperBob2 11mo agoCCl4 probably. Carcinogenic, at least for regular occupational exposure.
- SoftTalker 11mo agoAnd formerly available at any pharmacy. When I cleaned out my parents house I found a bottle of it in the laundry room. I guess my mom used to use it on stains.
- Tor3 11mo agoThat was a bit tongue-in-cheek.. and a more accurate word would be "banned", not "illegal". It's just something HP used to sell, not dangerous as such, but it's a CFC-based tape head cleaner. Very efficient, and leaves nothing behind. But they stopped selling that particular variant after the Montreal protocol was in place, but I kept a bottle around.
- kps 11mo ago>then again I'm not certain when the change to 9-track happened 1964, with the IBM 360's 8-bit bytes.
- Tor3 11mo agoSo, the 1973 one is likely really 9-track then, possibly 800 bpi. Should be fine reading that one on my drive, if the tape isn't in physically bad shape. Not that I expect them to ship it to me!