[TUHS] Several QD-600A Tapes from Bell Labs Circa Early 90s

[Clem Cole]

I have not tried it on my Mac in while.  I have a USB to SCSI and it been
on my todo list.  If I can make that work, It will be best.  The FreeBSD
system is a machine with all my strange peripherals.

On Wed, May 28, 2025 at 4:06 PM Warner Losh <imp at bsdimp.com> wrote:

> It's gratifying to see the Viper 150 still works on FreeBSD, though I miss
> the kkniwn rouge message since CAM has been in the system :).
>
> On Wed, May 28, 2025, 2:03 PM Clem Cole <clemc at ccc.com> wrote:
>
>> Be really careful.  The bands inside are extremely fragile.  Talk to me
>> off list.  I have a 2 drives that are likely to be to can read them
>> [Archive Viper 150], which I have spliced to a SCSI chain on a FreeBSD
>> box.  Talk to me off list.
>>
>> Clem
>>
>> On Wed, May 28, 2025 at 3:58 PM segaloco via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Hello everyone, I'm just putting feelers out for a potential data
>>> recovery
>>> project that may have some UNIX history nuggets hiding somewhere.  I
>>> just closed
>>> on this auction: https://www.ebay.com/itm/267254963191
>>>
>>> After the link is an action for a set of 17 Sony QD-600A tapes featuring
>>> various
>>> backups from at least one machine named Zeus.  The listing indicates
>>> they were
>>> property of a former Western Electric engineer.  At least one tape has a
>>> label
>>> indicating a full /usr backup.  My hope is that something downstream of
>>> the BTL
>>> internal version of System V might be living amongst these tapes, but
>>> either way
>>> I was wondering if anyone here with access to the correct tape drive
>>> would be
>>> willing to assist with ripping these tapes?  I can also start hunting
>>> down a
>>> drive but figured I'd ask around first.  I'm not currently spotting a
>>> drive on
>>> eBay but have a few other places I can ask around.
>>>
>>> Thanks for any input!
>>>
>>> - Matt G.
>>>
>>
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