USA, "Minnesota local question" - 20Gb tape not readable

We have a tape from a sold company (Sony 170ME, 8mm 20Gb capacity tape that
was saved from an IBM 7208 model 342)
At corp we have a mammoth tape drive that we use only Exabyte tapes in.

The problem is that we can only read the VTOC (sorry I have been in the
industry since 1984), and it "claims" that the tape
was initialized at 5Gb, even though the operator claims that she can only
init at 20Gb.

Is there anyone "local" who can "convert" the saved objects for me to the
other tape format;
IBM got me no place, IBM business partners that I could find in the area
cannot do this,
some other data recovery places cannot read the tapes,
some places you have to have a contract with (this is a one time shot),
and still one other place quoted me $500 just to examine the tape, and then
another $1,500 - $7,500 to retrieve the data,

The company I work for just about had a heart attack over that quote; let
alone $500 to just look at it...

I am hoping someone knows of an inexpensive, local company or person that
can read high capacity tapes -
If not, is there anyone in the Twin Cities that would allow us to "borrow"
in trade for other favors a tape drive
for a short time, just to hook up, get the data onto our DASD and then
return the tape unit (this should all only
take about 3 hours plus travel time)

If anyone has other thoughts, it would be much appreciated, owners are
wondering why we cannot read the tape,
IBM, the VAR, and Mammoth said that the two drives where essentially
identical except for the brand sticker....

TIA

Mark A. Manske
[mailto:mmanske@minter-weisman.com]
Sr. Project Lead
Minter-Weisman

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