Difference between revisions of "TK50 Image Archive"
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|VMS V5.52H4 RMST TK50 1/2 | |VMS V5.52H4 RMST TK50 1/2 | ||
|[https://mega.co.nz/#!HdZDECDb!ASz53SH6IExOnx2kykACBBjrw_QuUK6LSiA34cPbp5Y Aq-pxkzo-r1.a01_vms_v5.52h4_rmst_tk50_1_2.tap.gz] | |[https://mega.co.nz/#!HdZDECDb!ASz53SH6IExOnx2kykACBBjrw_QuUK6LSiA34cPbp5Y Aq-pxkzo-r1.a01_vms_v5.52h4_rmst_tk50_1_2.tap.gz] | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | |AQ-PXL00-R1.A01 | ||
| + | |VMS 5.52H4 RMST TK50 2/2 | ||
| + | |[https://mega.co.nz/#!XBwD2YZY!btRfxDb4N5x4U3rl-GayLE5N-h1se5nTIdAUctajZh8 Aq-pxl00-r1.a01_vms_5.52h4_rmst_tk50_2_2.tap.gz] | ||
|- | |- | ||
|AQ-PXL20-R1.A01 | |AQ-PXL20-R1.A01 | ||
Revision as of 08:16, 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.