Difference between revisions of "TK50 Image Archive"
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!Tape Label | !Tape Label | ||
!File | !File | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | |AQ-A9690-JS | ||
+ | |Interleaf<br>TPS 4<br>Slim TPS for DECstations | ||
+ | |[https://mega.co.nz/#!mMRnDSDK!DVNyAVSWf-Wc59rMRQTOLi4EF85gcjN49BgV1musLS0 Aq-a9690-js_interleaf_tps_4_slim_tps_for_decstations.tap.gz] | ||
|- | |- | ||
|AQ-FP86M-BN | |AQ-FP86M-BN |
Revision as of 08:03, 27 January 2013
The TK50 specification lists a design lifetime of 30 years for TK50 tapes. Some of the older tapes in my collection are starting to approach this age, so I think it's important to create a digital archive of these tapes before they become unreadable.
After some searching, I found some code to create tape images compatible with the SIMH emulator. This code successfully compiles on a CentOS 5.4 system, and works with an external SCSI TK50 drive, using the /dev/nst0 device. Using this code, I made the following images of my TK50 tape library. Several of these images have been tested with SIMH.
After the destruction of a tape, the TK50 became unreliable. Some searching turned up a TZ875-TA 5-slot tape changer, which is able to read TK50 tapes. This drive has proved much more reliable in making tape images.