Tape drive success!

[kiyotewolf]

I'd love to write some data to one of these tapes, then frame it on the wall..

[systematika]

for a second there you sounded like the computer scientist version of scotty from star trek... :P

[fairman1952]

Storage Tek tape tech here. I loved those machines. What a bear, Electronics, pnuematics, electrical, software , etc...Damn, it felt good to make these contraptions work. I loved them.

[evilunixuser1]

Miss the old reel drives. Still remember using 4mm tape cassettes in IBM servers - constantly jamming. Those old units built like iron.

[Amishman35]

I wonder if the speed at 10 seconds in ( 0:10 ) is fast enough to play a 128 kbps MP3 file at 6520 BPI...would make a nice Steampunk MP3 player like in 1830.

[physicmad]

@Amishman35 131072 / 6520 = 20.1030 inches per second - now find the specs LOL

[bigsranch]

I loaded bazillions of tapes on those TU45's. Paul, our DEC field service rep in Des Moines, was always tweaking the vacuum switch settings. He was really sharp. It was a bad sign when you saw him referring to the manual :)

[douro20]

@exposed97

The old vacuum-column tape drive was a very complex machine. It would still be very expensive to manufacture today.

[Zubb1987]

How old is this?! Lol

I want a tape drive from eBay, I'm thinking of buying a used one for 15.00 pounds.

I hope it works.

Sadly I know nothing about tapes & tape drives so I can't fix it :(

Are they good?

I will be using it for personal use. I'm fed up of my external HDD's failing on me.