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From: granteri@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Grant Erickson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.comm,comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: Can I Back Up my Hard Drive on my VCR
Message-ID: <3709@orbit.cts.com>
Date: 27 Dec 90 23:05:01 GMT
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Organization: People-Net [pnet51], Minneapolis, MN.
Lines: 46

In article <18220@thorin.cs.unc.edu> jawa@thing1.cs.unc.edu () writes:
>> Flash of brilliance -> what's my VCR?
>>                        Chopped Ham?
>>                       No! Choppe---- basically a large tape drive!!!!!
 
>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
 
>--
>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

I can't seem to remember the name of the company off the top of my head, but
there was such a product about 2 or 3 years back. It offered a box that
decoded and encoded the digital signal and professed to work with DiskFit 1.4
                                                                         (1.5)
and many other popular backup programs. They also offered a VCR you could buy
with their nameplate on it if you did not own one. 

I will scavenge through the back issues of my Mac mags and see if I can find
it, and post back to you.
Grant Erickson

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