Boston area media conversion or 7208 tap

[Bob Clarke 3rd x4502 <clarke@xxxxxxxx>]

Hello all.  As some of you may recall from an earlier post, I have been   
having considerable difficulty in writing an 8mm tape on my Exabyte   
8505XL that is being sent to our vendor (an IBM business partner) whose   
only apparent 8mm capability is an IBM 7208-002 tape drive.  Having used   
every possible combination of physical device settings and initialization   
parameters, the vendor has yet to be able to read any tapes I've created   
thus far.  Whereas an Exabyte representative has informed me that not   
even Exabyte has the ability to perform a conversion such as this due to   
hardware incompatibility (they're still looking into it though), I'm   
pretty much resigned to the fact that a media conversion simply cannot be   
done.  Though if anyone knows of someone (preferably in the Boston area)   
who may be able to do this I'd be more than happy to get my hands on   
their name and number.

It would appear then that my best bet would be to acquire an IBM 7208-002   
drive, connect it to my system and create the tape(s).  My questions then   
are 1) are there any 'midranger's' in the Boston area who have such a   
drive available for me to borrow (or rent)?  Or would anyone in the area   
know where I can get my hands on one as quickly as possible (local   
vendor)?  2) Can I connect an IBM 7208-002 to a 2621 IOP?  How about to   
my 9153 MFIOP?  By the way, I'm on a 9406-310 (2043) running V3R2.  There   
is a real need to move on this as quickly as possible and I'd appreciate   
any help I can get.  Thanks!

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