Xref: utzoo comp.sys.mac.comm:2020 comp.sys.mac.hardware:7537 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!batcomputer!mha From: mha@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Mark H. Anbinder) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.comm,comp.sys.mac.hardware Subject: Re: Can I Back Up my Hard Drive on my VCR Message-ID: <1990Dec27.155820.4783@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> Date: 27 Dec 90 15:58:20 GMT References: <18220@thorin.cs.unc.edu> Organization: BAKA Computers, Inc. - Ithaca, New York Lines: 42 In article <18220@thorin.cs.unc.edu> jawa@thing1.cs.unc.edu () writes: > >I have a new 40MB hard drive and am about to back up to floppies & am dreading >spending quality time w/ a spinning watch... > > ... > > Flash of brilliance -> what's my VCR? > Chopped Ham? > No! Choppe---- basically a large tape drive!!!!! > > >I rarely think of things before the rest of the universe, so ... Years ago, I worked part time for a company that had a couple of Apple /// computers and got a backup system that used a VCR as the storage device. So, you haven't thought of anything before the rest of the universe this time! There's no reason that you couldn't use a VCR, in theory, to store large quantities of digital data. The problem is, video tape is NOT really a digital storage medium (I think...) so anyone creating a method of using video tape for backup would have to do some creative digital to analog conversion (and the reverse to read the tape back). All you'd need, I guess, is a combination of software and hardware that would turn a stream of digital data into an NTSC video signal. You could then hook up to a VCR, a camcorder, or whatever, and store everything on tape. I don't know how much you could fit on a tape... the data density would probably have to be pretty low in order to assure adequate reliability. Any hardware whizzes out there have some gears turning in their heads now? :-) I suspect the availability of Digital Audio Tape (DAT) drives will make the video tape approach less practical, but you never know. There are still FAR more people with home VCR's than with home DAT recorders. -- Mark H. Anbinder ************************* mha@theory.tn.cornell.edu BAKA Computers * ******* ...!batcomputer!memory!mha 200 Pleasant Grove Rd. H: (607) 257-3480 ****** Ithaca, NY 14850 W: (607) 257-2070 ***** Memory Alpha BBS 607-257-5822