[Info-vax] VAX VMS going forward

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 7/26/2020 4:06 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
> =?UTF-8?Q?Arne_Vajh=c3=b8j?=  <arne at vajhoej.dk> wrote:
>> On 7/25/2020 9:46 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
>>> =?UTF-8?Q?Arne_Vajh=c3=b8j?=  <arne at vajhoej.dk> wrote:
>>>> I also suspect that the actual recovery rate may turn
>>>> out somewhat less than 100% if attempted to read them all.
>>>> Bad tapes, bad tape drives etc..
>>>
>>> My experience with nine-tracks is that there is nearly a 100% recovery
>>> rate.  Occasionally I'll come across 3M Black Watch tapes that need special
>>> processing, but for the most part one cleaning pass and they read through
>>> fine.
>>
>> If the tapes were 5 years old, the tape drive was 5 years old and
>> the tape drive was used every week, then I would expect nearly 100%
>> as well.
> 
> I'm talking mostly 1970s and 1980s tapes.  Most of them stored under office
> conditions.  Occasionally I get older tapes and newer tape and the occasional
> attic-stored tape.

I was always told that tapes (yes 9 track) should be copied to
new tapes after 10 years to avoid risk of data loss.

Arne