CompacTape

[Mr Ian Primus]

> >which should have been a load of recyclable TK50
> media.  Instead of
> >CompacTape, however, they are all CompacTape III. 
> I think these were
> >TK85 2.6gb media. 

Ouch. I'd complain big time. Definitely not what was
being sold there.

 Does anyone know if they will
> still be writable
> >with the standard format in a TK50? 

No. Not at all. They won't even fit - go ahead, try
it. There's a plastic stop in the left side that
prevents the cartridge from fitting

Or do I have a
> bunch of useless
> >DLT I tapes?

Pretty much. They're not entirely useless - but pretty
close if you don't have the proper drive. I have once
even tried to trick a TK50 drive into accepting a
CompacTape III. I had a dud TK50, so I swapped the
bottom cover of the cartridge onto a CompacTape III.
It threads up in the TK50 but won't even come ready.
Nor will it  rewind and unload - you have to do it
manually.

Now, not that I expected this to work, mind you - the
media is vastly different, by a factor of three or
more in terms of orsted rating. I was curious what
would happen.

Now, the tape in nine track reels, that's close
magnetically. I have sometimes wondered what would
happen if you spooled nine track tape into a modified
CompacTape shell, although I've never attempted it.
Nine track tape is pretty hard to find too.

-Ian