[TUHS] unix v4 tape found

[Charles H. Sauer via TUHS]

On Nov 6, 2025, at 11:22 PM, steve jenkin via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:
> 
> Links for those playing along at home on “What could possibly go wrong…”
> 
> CHM (and Al? ) as professional archivists / recovery will be more than aware of all this.
> 
>> On 7 Nov 2025, at 10:14, Al Kossow via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:
>> 
>> early 80's Memorex, on the other hand (like Sun and UCB liked to use)
> 
> ...
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky-shed_syndrome
> 
> ...
> https://psap.library.illinois.edu/collection-id-guide/softbindersyn
> 
> ...
> https://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub54/2what_wrong/

All of this is speculative until recovery is attempted.

HOWEVER, I’m cautiously optimistic, based on experience the last several years with over a hundred audio tapes from the 1960s and 1970s. Typically these were 1/4” tape on 7” and 10.5” reels. Many of them were oriiginally recorded by me, but over half recorded by others, who predicted that “baking” would be appropriate. One reel had deteriorated unrecoverably. A few had minor shedding problems. All the rest exhibited no problems when I digitized them using tape machines dating back to the 1970s.

Charlie

P.S. Most of the recordings made by others may or may not become publicly available at some point. The most interesting ones I recorded are available at https://technologists.com/60sN70s/

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