[rescue] QIC tape recovery, was Re: Looking for sun4 SunOS4 QIC tapes

[Dave McGuire]

On 08/27/2017 12:23 PM, Peter Stokes wrote:
> Be very careful with those old Qic drives, the main capstan rubber goes gooey
> on a large number and wrecks the tape, please check with a blank tape before
> loading a disti copy.

  Yes, the rollers in nearly all QIC drives has turned to snot by now.
Terry's Rubber Rollers can fix them for a reasonable fee:

  http://www.terrysrubberrollers.com/

  One other thing: The drive belts inside the tape cartridges are
reaching the point where they're snapping or disintegrating.  Be very
careful with these.  For recovering important data, it's possible to
transplant the drive belt from a donor cartridge of the same form factor
and the same tape length.  I have done this many times with good results.

              -Dave

-- 
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA