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I wonder if there's some way to low-level format the tapes now that the
format, per se, has been blown away. I remember years and years ago at DEC we got a bulk eraser just so we could use our pile of TK50 tapes in a TK70 drive, which had higher density but used the same tape. The drive would reformat the tape if it didn't find a valid signature. These were the predecessors of DLT. Christian Jose wrote: Bad news I'm afraid. DDS tapes contain a header that is read by the drive firmware to identify tape type and also maintains a usage log, amongst other things. If the tape is bulk-erased (using a big magnet) as opposed to being erased in a DDS drive, this header is erased and the drive no longer recognises the tape as a valid DDS tape and ejects it.There is a similar issue with bulk erasing DLT, 9840, 9940 and similar tapes. These tapes carry a clocking signal on the edge of the tape that is written by the tape manufacturer. If these tapes are bulk erased they will fail to work again as the drive requires the clocking signal to sync the head to the tape and identify where on the tape it is. Your DDS tapes will still work in a DAT audio drive, as DAT audio devices don't use or require the header. If you plug a DDS-4 tape into a DDS-3 or earlier drive, or a DDS-3 tape into a DDS-2 drive, the drive will also eject the tape as it will not recognise the header from the more recent format tape. On Mon, 2006-07-24 at 17:18 -0400, Dan Langille wrote: |
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