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From: dafuller@sequent.UUCP (David Fuller)
Newsgroups: comp.periphs,comp.periphs.scsi,comp.multimedia,comp.misc,misc.misc,sci.electronics,comp.databases
Subject: Re: What is the life-time of magnetic tape?????
Message-ID: <50914@sequent.UUCP>
Date: 18 Jan 91 06:42:23 GMT
References: <1991Jan17.183902.24474@watdragon.waterloo.edu> <1991Jan17.191341.12193@zoo.toronto.edu>
Reply-To: dafuller@sequent.UUCP (David Fuller)
Organization: Sequent Computer Systems, Inc
Lines: 22

In article <1991Jan17.191341.12193@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>In article <1991Jan17.183902.24474@watdragon.waterloo.edu> daford@watdragon.waterloo.edu (Daniel Ford) writes:
>>I have an old reference that states that the life-time of well cared for
>>magnetic tape is about 2 years.  

My recommendations are that you need to commit to the information value of
the stuff you're recording before you record it.  I recommend that you either
use a tape that's been thru a verifier or use a new tape that has 
been recorded end to end and rewinded a few times to weed out DOAs and
shed spare oxide.

Most important - storage environment.  If the environment changes
radically, reread the tape.  Store tapes with the tape path VERTICAL.  If
you store tapes horizontally, the tape pack may slump over time and 
you'll have a hell of a time reading them.  

Dave 
-- 
Dave Fuller				   
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