recovering cartridge tapes (was: Tek fiches found! (was: Looking for Tektronix 4051 programs...))

[Al Kossow]

On 7/19/10 3:22 PM, Richard wrote:

> This is similar to the 9/7-track reading device: there are no takeup
> and feeder reels as they are normally present in a working drive.  The
> tape is not pulled over the read head under tension.  With tapes that
> you had to recondition via baking, you don't want to put them under
> tension anyway.  The tapes are lightly pulled over the read head.  I
> don't know the exact mechanics of the transport, but I believe it is
> electronically controlled and not manual.  However, it exerts far less
> physical stress on the tape as I understand it.


I have been using conventional drives for 1/2" tape recovery.
John Bordyuik's web site at one point described the system he uses,
which has a modified M4 data tranport fitted with an IBM 3480 16 track
magnetorestrictive head and modified read electronics. In either case
the tape transport is conventional.

3M 1/4" data cartridges need the band to move the tape. There is no
conventional way to move the tape without this.