23 Jun
2026
23 Jun
'26
4:25 p.m.
I have found that a modernish Dell PC (win 7 era) when attached to a m4
9914 tape drive has issues when attempting to read 800dpi 9track tapes.
I/O errors that seem to be centered around variable block size microcode of
the modern scsi controller (?)
I've spent a number of hours on it and I could not even pull raw data off
an 800dpi tape. 1600 no problem. works fine.
is there a tweener box or scsi controller that will work in this situation?
what do other people do?
Bill
23 Jun
23 Jun
5:37 p.m.
On Tue, Jun 23, 2026 at 4:25 PM Bill Degnan via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
I have found that a modernish Dell PC (win 7 era) when attached to a m4
9914 tape drive has issues when attempting to read 800dpi 9track tapes.
I/O errors that seem to be centered around variable block size microcode of
the modern scsi controller (?)
I've spent a number of hours on it and I could not even pull raw data off
an 800dpi tape. 1600 no problem. works fine.
is there a tweener box or scsi controller that will work in this situation?
what do other people do?
Bill
If it was me and I suspected SCSI issues, I might try removing the
SCSI interface in the M4 9914 and controlling it through the Pertec
interface. If I remember correctly from when I owned an M4 9914 years
ago, the SCSI interface connects to the standard Pertec interface of
the M4 9914 and the SCSI interface could be removed. Of course that
wouldn't help if you don't already have a Pertec interface host
controller. I happen to have some Computer Logics PCTD-16 ISA bus
Pertec interfaces which I use to control Fujistu M2444AC tape drives.
Too bad those drives don't do 800BPI.
Also too bad I didn't keep the M4 9914. I gave it away after the tach
roller quit working correctly. Probably could have fixed that by
replacing the disintegrated rubber on the tach roller.
6:06 p.m.
I have been considering using a Vaxstation, at least to see if it
interfaces natively. my goal is to get the data and save to sonething I
can open in simH or if IBM as an AWS file
b
On Tue, Jun 23, 2026 at 8:37 PM Glen Slick via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
wrote:
On Tue, Jun 23, 2026 at 4:25 PM Bill Degnan via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
I have found that a modernish Dell PC (win 7 era) when attached to a m4
9914 tape drive has issues when attempting to read 800dpi 9track tapes.
I/O errors that seem to be centered around variable block size microcode
of
the modern scsi controller (?)
I've spent a number of hours on it and I could not even pull raw data off
an 800dpi tape. 1600 no problem. works fine.
is there a tweener box or scsi controller that will work in this
situation?
what do other people do?
Bill
If it was me and I suspected SCSI issues, I might try removing the
SCSI interface in the M4 9914 and controlling it through the Pertec
interface. If I remember correctly from when I owned an M4 9914 years
ago, the SCSI interface connects to the standard Pertec interface of
the M4 9914 and the SCSI interface could be removed. Of course that
wouldn't help if you don't already have a Pertec interface host
controller. I happen to have some Computer Logics PCTD-16 ISA bus
Pertec interfaces which I use to control Fujistu M2444AC tape drives.
Too bad those drives don't do 800BPI.
Also too bad I didn't keep the M4 9914. I gave it away after the tach
roller quit working correctly. Probably could have fixed that by
replacing the disintegrated rubber on the tach roller.
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Bill Degnan -
Glen Slick