[rescue] Dumping SunOS tapes

[Peter Stokes]

Hi John

I think you misunderstand where the belt is.

The belt is actually inside the tape cartridge and a single capstan wheel rubs
against a wheel in the cartridge to move this belt which moves both spools of
the tape. The belt, unlike cassette deck belts etc, is very thin, much like
the tape itself. Each length of tape has varying sizes of belt as the belt
runs around the tape spools themselves.

If you link to here

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter-inch_cartridge

You will actually see an old Sunos tape cartridge and others.

Peter
---------------------------
Peter Stokes
Ashlyn Computer Services
Mbl: 07977 532320
---------------------------




On 8 Sep 2017, at 15:56, John Hudak <jjhudak at gmail.com> wrote:

> Could you please show me a picture (pointer) of the cartridge + belt you
> are talking about?
>
> I do some 'vintage' tape deck restoration and have access to a few belt
> suppliers....
> If one knows the geometries of the belt,  one can try to match it to
> existing.
>
> Something doesn't make sense to be tho...someone posted something about
> belt being matched to length of tape? I don't see how tape length would
> dictate belt geometries, and even if it did, I'd think the economies of
> mass production of a single belt would significantly outweigh the cost of
> producing multiple belts.....
> Thanks
> J
>
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 8, 2017 at 7:50 AM, Richard <ejb at trick-1.net> wrote:
>
>> Hi Folks
>>
>> OK so the SS2 is installed 4.1.3_U1 (sans Presto Card) and the Archive
>> 150 Tape drive is operational and confirmed not destroying tapes :-).
>>
>> I have however checked a couple of tapes and the internal belts have
>> degraded/snapped on some (anyone know of a replacement belt?). Others
>> are good and I can recover data from tar/dump backups. I have a box of
>> about 50 tapes so I should be able to get data off of the original Sun
>> tape set, even if it is mix and match. I am however being pessimistic
>> and working on the understanding that I will get 1 go per tape with the
>> potential for tape breakage or other damage occurring.
>>
>> So here is the question.
>>
>> What format/tool do people suggest I use to image the tape such that
>> others could use the images.
>>
>> thank in advance
>>
>> Richard
>> _______________________________________________
>> rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
> _______________________________________________
> rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue