Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att-cb!att-ih!pacbell!ames!mailrus!umix!uunet!mcvax!enea!ttds!sics!sics.se!jw From: jw@sics.se (Johan Widen) Newsgroups: comp.periphs Subject: How reliable is video tape and DAT tape (for data storage) Message-ID: Date: 7 Mar 88 08:53:16 GMT Sender: news@sics.se Organization: Swedish Institute of Computer Science, Kista Lines: 18 [ This article was posted 21 Feb 88 06:53:16 GMT but was stopped on a machine ] I was recently told that the rotating read/record heads in video tape players are quite abrasive and that they tend to destroy the video tape in as little as 10 passes. I was also told that the situation is even worse with DAT (Digital Audio Tape). Is this just the usual badmouthing of things new, or is there a real problem here? I would like to hear from people who use VCR's for backup. While we are on the subject: how many times should you be able to read a reel tape? How many times should you be able to rewrite a reel tape? -- Johan Widen SICS, PO Box 1263, S-164 28 KISTA, SWEDEN Tel: +46 8 752 15 32 Ttx: 812 61 54 SICS S Fax: +46 8 751 72 30 Internet: jw@sics.se or {mcvax,munnari,ukc,unido}!enea!sics.se!jw