RE: 8mm tape -- MIDRANGE-L

Yes, cleaning the tape drive is another things that's often ignored (and
that doesn't just apply to 8mm).
On several occasions I've visited a customer site and seen the yellow
'clean me' light on the front of a tape drive, or we look at QSYSOPR, or
check QHST log, and oftern see these messages going back as far as the
log does:
CPF6792  70  INFO         Device TAP01 needs to be cleaned.


You ask some of them about the yellow light, or cleaning the tape drive,
and they don't have a clue.

I see that the new 7208-342 40GB 8mm drive has a "Dynamic built-in head
cleaner".  Another idea that I first saw on high-end consumer VCR's a
few years ago.

For long term term archival storage of any tape the environment (correct
temperature, humidity, lack of dust) is very important.  I know
personally that 20 year old VHS tapes that have been properly stored are
still playable with no noticeable picture degradation (apart from the
normal degradation that's a feature of VHS that is).   :-)
So it should certainly be possible to read tapes after a long time -
it's just that the possibility of a problem can increase dramatically as
time goes on.

One problem I did encounter with Beta tapes was with a particular brand.
OK it was Maxell HGX Gold L-750's - but the problem was specific to
their Beta tapes, I find their VHS tapes, especially the Super VHS Black
Magneitite tapes to be excellent.  Their Beta tapes had a basic design
defect in that after a few years the tape binder broke down leaving the
oxide coating to start flaking away and causing massive head clogs.  One
more reason to pay attention to Mr. Glanstein's sage advice about making
double copies of important backups on tapes of a different brand.  In
this case using different lot numbers of the same brand didn't help as
it was a design problem inherent in the entire line of tape.

NOTE: Sometimes when you obtain tapes of a different brand will actually
end up with tapes that came from the same production line in the same
factory.  This is because several companies do not make their own tapes,
bt have other manufactures make them for them.  So for example, your
Sony 8mm tape and Brand-X 8mm tape may actually be from the same
manufacturer.  You can usually spot this by checking the design/pattern
of the tape shell, and the locations and type of lettering used for the
lot number printing.  If they look surprisingly similar, and you want to
be real safe, go try another brand.


Neil Palmer                                AS/400~~~~~      
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pat Barber [SMTP:MBOCEANSIDE@postoffice.worldnet.att.net]
> Sent: Monday, March 30, 1998 6:11 PM
> To:   MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
> Subject:      8mm tape
> 
> Although I have heard bad things about 8mm, I have to report
> that I have several customers with 8mm and NO apparent problems,so,
> I guess it all depends......When I sell an 8mm I always recommend
> weekly cleaning... and careful storage, other than that, no big
> deal.... I have seen about as many failures with 1/4 as I have
> with 8mm but that's just what I have seen.... Some of these folks 
> have had 8mm for over 8 years at this point and they do use their
> backups for recovery of lost or old reports.....
> +---
> 
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