OP here. These are some really great ideas here and I thank you.
Ask HN: Forensic analysis for 50 year-old tape?
31–34 of 34 posts
Re: Ask HN: Forensic analysis for 50 year-old tape?
#32This probably isn't going to help the poster specifically but it's an excuse to share a good presentation from Vintage Computer Fest West 2020 re: magnetic tape restoration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKvwjYwvN2U I believe the presenter's tape was also from an IBM 360. I guess maybe, if the rig the presenter used to read his tape still exists, this might be of use to the poster. The presenter had a tape from his…
Thanks, that's an interesting talk. It certainly makes sense to do as much of the signal processing in digital as possible but you still need a functioning analog front-end and their approach required access to an at least partially working 9 track tape drive, which I don't think have been manufactured in about 20 years.
That's why you should reach out to the presenter.
Re: Ask HN: Forensic analysis for 50 year-old tape?
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have a couple of 4U 9 track tape drives with centronics SCSI interfaces. Pulled from 90s Sun gear from ex Federal deployment. Government stuck with tape for a long time. One of them ran in 1999, at least, but they've been in the barn since. rebuilding that to functional might be harder than making some hacked up sensor to run tape through.
Now that would be a fun hack, no? I bet with the collective knowledge from this thread I might be able to pull it off. I’m still working for the man, though. I recall a time that I wrote a program that called for a tape mount and a file to be read where this file spanned 2 volumes. There was a 3270 terminal next to the tape reader. After the job is submitted, I was amazed at the velocity of the read. The all time fav…
Yep, that is why Halon is used in data centers. It stops the combustion reaction at relatively low concentrations and it is a gas so it does not damage electronics. However, breathing it in is not really recommended.
I am surprised at your last line, if there was not a fire, why did some hardware not survive?
Re: Ask HN: Forensic analysis for 50 year-old tape?
#341) be careful! The magnetic coating will flake off and you will lose the data.
Research a bit: this is a solved problem. There are chemical treatments to render the oxide coating more flexible for an attempt at reading it.
2) is there a way to avoid forcing physical contact with rubber capstans as you attempt to pass it over a magnetic play head? Is there an alternative magnetic sensing technology you can use to extract the data vs a proximity based typical tape playback head?