Questions tagged [magnetic-tape]
For questions about magnetic tape storage formats
30
questions
4
votes
1
answer
441
views
How can I restore a TapeDisk backup on a modern PC?
Back in the 1990s and a bit later I used DAT DDS tape for backups to a SCSI tape drive. The software was "TapeDisk" which allowed the DDS tape to appear as a HD. I'm trying to get some files ...
- 41
4
votes
0
answers
101
views
Is there information available to diagnose DLT2000/4000 POST errors?
I'm trying to read some DLT CompactTape IIIXL tapes.
The Quantum TH3AA (DLT2000XT) drive I have was last working in 2018 but on powerup all the lights illuminate then the lights on the left go out but ...
- 666
1
vote
1
answer
495
views
Name of Commodore tape format?
How did Commodore call their tape format, if there ever was a specific name for it?
OK, let me clarify. I would be interested in the technical term of the encoding as well as any specific name, should ...
- 31
14
votes
1
answer
402
views
Help identifying format of old tape backup
I'm recovering data from old QIC backup tapes for an acquaintance, which I do by dumping the raw data in Linux, and decoding the files from it using my own scripts, which handle several standard ...
- 765
31
votes
2
answers
3k
views
What "spectacular to watch" algorithms were used for sorting tapes?
Python's heapq.__about__ variable contains an anecdote (François Pinard, circa 2000):
[1] The disk balancing algorithms which are current, nowadays, are
more annoying than clever, and this is a ...
- 18.7k
21
votes
2
answers
2k
views
What was this mini-computer tape troubleshooting process
Back in the early 1980s I worked at a bank. My department input data into a mini-computer which was then to a mainframe system each day. I'm pretty sure it was a DEC mini, if only because the ...
- 213
0
votes
2
answers
236
views
Could visual inspection of the magnetic disk be used to detect the quality (or damages) of a floppy disk?
The magnetic floppy disk is sometimes used as an (infrared) light filter as shown on some pictures below. That led me to think about the actual magnetic disk and if inconsistencies or damaged could be ...
- 1,672
15
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Why are the magnetic floppy disk drives (FDD) heads not frictionless?
After reading this answer to the question How long can a floppy disk spin before wearing out?
... one could see thru the floppy... Not just badly worn, but the magnetic coating was outright polished ...
- 1,672
5
votes
1
answer
343
views
What information could be recovered from visualized magnetic information?
I was wondering how the data on a floppy disk physically looks like. With data stored on a magnetic disk obviously that isn't visible. The Wikipedia article on floppy disks however shows a beautiful ...
- 1,672
17
votes
6
answers
4k
views
How does a floppy drive identify the first and last sectors and tracks?
I've recently found a more modern application "Floppy Disk Master-7"(Picture 2) (FDM) that visualized the bad sectors, tracks and clusters(Picture 1) on a floppy disk in a similar (but ...
- 1,672
9
votes
1
answer
420
views
What is the effect of direct exposure of the magnetic disk of a floppy to ultraviolet (UV) light?
I was thinking of the mold issue of floppies and UV light (UV-C) came to mind. As ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation and floppies use a magnetic disk for storage and I vaguely ...
- 1,672
2
votes
4
answers
488
views
Cheapest way to store and load small dataset in the 80s?
An extra, costly floppy drive would overkill when transferring a page of letter, storing game level data, or distributing a piece of BASIC program, and non built-in ones have to be paid. A tape ...
- 3,754
4
votes
1
answer
334
views
Identifying and recovering programs from tapes
A couple of days ago, I was given some old tapes with programs written on them. However, I am having some trouble with them.
I do not know what computer they were programed for. After recognising the ...
- 141
3
votes
2
answers
234
views
How plausible is this data corruption on an IBM 9-track tape?
Preamble
For a while, I had a copy of a BESM-6 Pascal compiler which worked only on very simple programs, like "Hello, world", and would throw a division by 0 exception on anything more ...
- 19.4k
5
votes
1
answer
263
views
Why does a DECtape have 576 blocks?
Information online states that a 18/36-bit DECtape holds 576 blocks. People claim it may be possible to add a few more blocks, but no more. Where does this number come from? Is there a hard limit ...
- 3,111