9 track reel tapes

From: Kevin Handy <kth_at_srv.net>
Date: Mon Sep 29 13:36:53 2003

chris wrote:

>I came across a decent stash of 9 track reel tapes during my clean out.
>(4 cases, so maybe 50 or so of them)
>
>A while ago, I sold or gave away (don't remember) a whole bunch of the
>write protect rings for them. So I'm wondering, do those rings stop you
>from writing, or enable you to write when installed? I want to try
>selling the 9 track tapes on ebay, but I want to make sure I specify the
>correct status of the rings (that don't exist).
>
>
No ring-ee, no writ-ee

>Also, are these safe to bulk erase with an electromagnet? So far none of
>them have any data on them that I am worried about erasing, so I'm not
>planning to bother... but I want to know if it is safe or not in case I
>find one I need to.
>
>
Yes. They are not pre-formatted. RadioShack at least used to sell a
bulk eraser for video/cassette tapes (44-233A) that can do about 4
or 5 tapes before it overheats (wait 1 hour, and then repeat).
Don't do a quick 'zap' and expect it to be blank. Take your time
and run it over both sides.

>And finally, are all 9 track tapes the same? These were used on our
>General Automation Zebra machine. So will they work on any machine that
>needs 9 track, or only on other Zebras?
>
>
Some tapes were rated for higher density than others.
Common densities were 800, 1600, and 6250 bpi. Others existed
like 100, 200, and 3200. Most tapes were rated at 6250, but
are usable on all the 800+. I don't know about the <800.

Also, you could get tapes with just a few feet (<100) of tape,
up to the common 2400' reels. Some auto-loaders don't like
the shorter tapes.

The seals on the tape varied too. You could get cannisters,
rings that you removed before mounting the tapes, and rings
designed for IBM automatic tape loaders.

Some of the tapes age better than others. I had some that would
lose large amounts of oxide onto the tape heads after just a few
years. Also, some of the tape manufacturers would forget to
put a EOF marker on a large percentage of their tapes.

It depends on what additional "extras" your tape drive required,
but for the most part all of the 9 track tapes were the same.
Received on Mon Sep 29 2003 - 13:36:53 BST