Philip.Belben_at_powertech.co.uk wrote:
>
> >> And anyway, a number of S100 cards included boot ROMs, etc. Those need to
> >> be backed up.
> >
> > Shure, but where ? Just on a disk ? I already have the problem
> > that I can't read some fd's of the early 80s. Even APPLE II disks,
> > althrough I always said that a DISK ][ drive could read and write
> > anything including Bierdeckl (beer mats/coasters).
> >
> > So, what to use ? Writable CDs ? They have only a guaranteed
> > lifetime of less than 15 years. Tapes ? Maybe - I have some
> > PBS Tapes from 1976 and they are still readable, but they are
> > 900 and 1600 BpI tapes. Any modern optical and magnetical
> > medium is less reliable. So printing the hex dump and then try
> > to scan it back (ocr) when a replacement is needed ?
> > This sould be reliable, since it is human readable
> > (Like old magnetic tapes).
>
> Paper tape, of course!
>
> There is an action on me from this list last year (I think) to
> investigate the possibility of Tyvek tapes. I still intend to do it,
> but I don't know when!
Yeah, I recall mentioning the near-indestructability of that material,
having dealt with it as the stuff that disk envelopes were made of way
back in the goodle days (All Tanty 8" floppies I ever saw were encased
in it.
.
Since I lost the paper tapes from my (only ever) scholastic experience
with computers (1978-9, HP-2000A, Foothill College, one BASIC course
then tutoring) a long time ago due to cat pee. As far as I know, that
Tyvek stuff can only be destroyed by fire -- well, it _can_ be stretched,
but that doesn't actually destroy the data on a punched tape the way it
does on a magnetic tape.
--
Ward Griffiths
They say that politics makes strange bedfellows.
Of course, the main reason they cuddle up is to screw somebody else.
Michael Flynn, _Rogue Star_
Received on Tue Jun 23 1998 - 21:35:38 BST