From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.2 (2018-09-13) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.2 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [45.79.103.53]) by inbox.vuxu.org (OpenSMTPD) with ESMTP id cd36fbe5 for ; Mon, 25 Nov 2019 18:18:54 +0000 (UTC) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id AE0359C5F2; Tue, 26 Nov 2019 04:18:53 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6AFBA93D74; Tue, 26 Nov 2019 04:18:42 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id DEF7293D74; Tue, 26 Nov 2019 04:18:39 +1000 (AEST) Received: from oclsc.com (oclsc.com [206.248.137.164]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 504AA93D71 for ; Tue, 26 Nov 2019 04:18:39 +1000 (AEST) From: Norman Wilson To: tuhs@tuhs.org Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2019 13:18:26 -0500 Message-ID: <1574705910.29838.for-standards-violators@oclsc.org> Subject: Re: [TUHS] Someone wants to use an exabyte [ really bulk erasing ] X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" I had a hand-held degausser, but lent it to someone years ago and never got it back. It was actually Exabyte that made me buy it. I bought a new 8505 through a reseller to supersede the 8200 I was using for home backups. It turned out the 8505's firmware refused to overwrite a tape already written at any but the highest density, so I couldn't reuse any of my existing backup tapes. Exabyte insisted it was a feature, not a bug. So I gave up and bought a degausser so I could turn a used tape into a blank tape so the damn tape drive would write on it. For further vintage-computing amusement: I decided to buy at that time because the reseller had arranged a deal with Exabyte: trade in any old tape drive, working or not, and get a couple of hundred bucks off on a brand-new 8505. So I gave the reseller an old, broken TK05 I had lying around. My sales contact for the reseller was a former service tech at the same company, so I figured (correctly) he'd get the joke. Norman Wilson Toronto ON