Xref: utzoo comp.sys.dec:927 comp.os.vms:11119
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!nrl-cmf!ukma!rutgers!mcdchg!ddsw1!karl
From: karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec,comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: Using TK50s as TK70s
Summary: Bulk erase the tape if you get "hosed".
Message-ID: <2716@ddsw1.MCS.COM>
Date: 16 Jan 89 21:56:21 GMT
References: <258@ultb.UUCP> <524@decus.com.au>
Reply-To: karl@ddsw1.UUCP (Karl Denninger)
Organization: Macro Computer Solutions, Inc., Mundelein, IL
Lines: 26

In article <524@decus.com.au> taylort@decus.com.au (Trevor Taylor (Graphics SIG Chairman)) writes:
=In article <258@ultb.UUCP>, awpsys@ultb.UUCP (Andrew W. Potter) writes:
=> 	Has anyone succeeded in writing a TK50 on a TK70 drive?
=> 
=Just out of curiosity, we took a brand new TK50 and wrote a backup
=saveset to it on a TK70. It worked OK. 
=
=What really irked us however, was that in the easly days of TK70s
=we could not get many and one of the operators mistakenly used a
=few in a TK50 drive one day. Result -- TK70s that you can no
=longer use except as TK50s. You cannot even re-initialise them
=because the "smart" drive checks the tape first and says "Oh no,
=this is a TK50!".

Bulk erase the tape and try again :-)

It takes a reasonably good bulk eraser to get the tape, but if you succeed,
you've got a truly "blank" tape again.   It appears that what the drive is
checking is the volume header on the initialized tape.  

(Disclaimer:  It works for us, no idea what it'll do for you.)

--
Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, ddsw1!karl)
Data: [+1 312 566-8912], Voice: [+1 312 566-8910]
Macro Computer Solutions, Inc.    	"Quality solutions at a fair price"