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* [TUHS] OT: Need help getting old 9 track tapes read
@ 2019-04-28  8:45 arnold
  2019-04-28  9:07 ` Bakul Shah
                   ` (2 more replies)
  0 siblings, 3 replies; 5+ messages in thread
From: arnold @ 2019-04-28  8:45 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: tuhs

Hi All.

Scott Lee, who worked with me on the Georgia Tech Software Tools
Subystem for Pr1me Computers, recently unearthed two tapes with
some version of that software.  These may be the only copies
extant anywhere.

He says:

| I was cleaning out the basement of my house. They're 35 years old, but 
| they've never been left in the heat or anything. I opened one of them 
| up and checked the tape and it's not self-sticky or anything. The odds 
| that they're readable is slim, because old 9-track bits tended to bleed 
| through each other. You were supposed to spin through the tape every 
| couple of years to make them last longer. That's obviously not happened.

There was discussion here a while back about services that will
recover such tapes and so on. But I didn't save any of that information.

If you have information, PLEASE send it to me so that I can relay it
to Scott.

Dennis Boone & Bill Gunshannon (are you on this list?) - I may ask you
to contribute $$ towards this once I know more.

Thanks!

Arnold

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread

* Re: [TUHS] OT: Need help getting old 9 track tapes read
  2019-04-28  8:45 [TUHS] OT: Need help getting old 9 track tapes read arnold
@ 2019-04-28  9:07 ` Bakul Shah
  2019-04-28 11:12 ` Dennis Boone
  2019-06-24 20:56 ` Al Kossow
  2 siblings, 0 replies; 5+ messages in thread
From: Bakul Shah @ 2019-04-28  9:07 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: arnold; +Cc: tuhs

On Sun, 28 Apr 2019 02:45:07 -0600 arnold@skeeve.com wrote:
>
> There was discussion here a while back about services that will
> recover such tapes and so on. But I didn't save any of that information.

http://www.comco-inc.com/media-conversion-services-by-comco-p29851.html

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread

* Re: [TUHS] OT: Need help getting old 9 track tapes read
  2019-04-28  8:45 [TUHS] OT: Need help getting old 9 track tapes read arnold
  2019-04-28  9:07 ` Bakul Shah
@ 2019-04-28 11:12 ` Dennis Boone
  2019-06-24 20:56 ` Al Kossow
  2 siblings, 0 replies; 5+ messages in thread
From: Dennis Boone @ 2019-04-28 11:12 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: tuhs

 > Scott Lee, who worked with me on the Georgia Tech Software Tools
 > Subystem for Pr1me Computers, recently unearthed two tapes with some
 > version of that software.  These may be the only copies extant
 > anywhere.

!!!

 > | I was cleaning out the basement of my house. They're 35 years old,
 > | but they've never been left in the heat or anything. I opened one
 > | of them up and checked the tape and it's not self-sticky or
 > | anything. The odds that they're readable is slim, because old
 > | 9-track bits tended to bleed through each other. You were supposed
 > | to spin through the tape every couple of years to make them last
 > | longer. That's obviously not happened.

I've read stuff that old that was stored in worse conditions.  9-track
is surprisingly robust.  Humidity can be worse on the 80s-era media,
aggravating the "sticky shed" problem.  There are several methods for
dealing with that, including low temp baking, chemical treatments,
stripping coating off the back side of the tape, etc.  I use a low-tech
baking solution at home.  Most methods give you a limited number of
reads over a fairly short time period.

 > Dennis Boone & Bill Gunshannon (are you on this list?) - I may ask
 > you to contribute $$ towards this once I know more.

Let me know.

De

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread

* Re: [TUHS] OT: Need help getting old 9 track tapes read
  2019-04-28  8:45 [TUHS] OT: Need help getting old 9 track tapes read arnold
  2019-04-28  9:07 ` Bakul Shah
  2019-04-28 11:12 ` Dennis Boone
@ 2019-06-24 20:56 ` Al Kossow
  2 siblings, 0 replies; 5+ messages in thread
From: Al Kossow @ 2019-06-24 20:56 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: tuhs



On 4/28/19 1:45 AM, arnold@skeeve.com wrote:

> There was discussion here a while back about services that will
> recover such tapes and so on. But I didn't save any of that information.

Chuck Guzis does excellent work and recommend that you use his services.
I hope the Georgia Tech tapes are recoverable
since I have been trying to find it for a long time as well.



^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread

* Re: [TUHS] OT: Need help getting old 9 track tapes read
@ 2019-04-28 23:44 Noel Chiappa
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 5+ messages in thread
From: Noel Chiappa @ 2019-04-28 23:44 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: arnold, tuhs; +Cc: jnc

    > From: Arnold Skeeve

    > If you have information, PLEASE send it to me so that I can relay it
    > to Scott.

IMO, only one choice: Chuck Guzis (cclist@sydex.com); he's very active in the
vintage computer community, and reads old media professionally.

I've used him (to recover those backup tapes of the MIT PWB1 system), which
was rather tricky (bad mold; he had to build a special tool to remove it), and
I was incredibly happy. Very reasonable price too - although he may have given
me a special 'collector' rate.. :-)

   Noel

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2019-06-24 21:01 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 5+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2019-04-28  8:45 [TUHS] OT: Need help getting old 9 track tapes read arnold
2019-04-28  9:07 ` Bakul Shah
2019-04-28 11:12 ` Dennis Boone
2019-06-24 20:56 ` Al Kossow
2019-04-28 23:44 Noel Chiappa

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