TK70 / CompacTape II anywhere?

From: Jerome Fine <jhfine_at_idirect.com>
Date: Thu Apr 19 22:15:54 2001

>Gunther Schadow wrote:

> where do you think one could buy new or used CompacTape II (TK70)
> tape cardridges? It looks as if they're nowhere to find on the net.
> Well, I suppose one could use the new 24 GB DLT cardriges, but they
> are terribly expensive just for the poor VAX 6000 hobbyist.

Jerome Fine replies:

There used to be a site which listed the physical and electrical characteristics
of all the DLT tapes - sadly it is no longer available. However, the table showed
that the ONLY TWO differences between a CompacTape (I) and a CompacTape II
were the price and the colour of the label - Brown for the CompacTape and Blue
for the CompacTape II. DEC usually charged a considerable premium when the
label was Blue.

As Zane mentioned, its is definitely possible to bulk erase a CompacTape I or II
after a TK50 has written to the blank tape (at which point a TK70 will no longer
write to the tape since the TK70 drive immediately places it in WRITE PROTECT).

I think a friend has a few that can be spared at this point - e-mail me privately and I
will make the contact after I know a bit more. He sold me a few for my TK70
and they work very well!

By the way, the TK70/TQK70 is a reasonable combination. While I use RT-11
which can write files of a maximum of 32 MBytes, that can be done in about
7 Minutes at full streaming mode. Even a compare can also be done in full
streaming mode in 7 minutes. Both times were for that 32 MByte file and when
BUP is used. When I use BUP (8192 byte records), the capacity of a TK70
is about 300 MBytes or about 8.75 RT-11 partitions.

If you can find a bulk eraser, be careful. Evidentially my friend went through quite
a few - burned them out since they are not designed for continuous use unless you
purchase the expensive ones - which I presume you want to avoid in the first place.

Sincerely yours,

Jerome Fine
Received on Thu Apr 19 2001 - 22:15:54 BST