Open Reel (9-Track) tape to CD
Many 0.5" open reel (9-track) tapes (ORT), unless very carefully cared for, reach a stage where it starts becoming difficult to read the data off of them. A very sensible move is to transfer the data on the tapes to a more modern and stable medium such as CD, 3590, or LTO (Ultrium). By moving to a high capacity tape drive, many original tapes may be stacked on a single output tape. The other major issue with open reel (9-track) tape is that many manufacturers are now phasing out support for these drives. This will eventually leave users with tapes and no in-house solution to read the data from the tape.
The eMag Conversion Service Centers can do this for you, and at the same time it is possible to convert the data into a more viable format to be handled on PCs, Unix systems, etc. Alternatively, the files could be copied unchanged or an image of the tape saved so that a tape could be recreated at a later date. With copies of labeled tapes, a complete log is created (in a CSV type file) that can be used to track where each original file has been stored.
By making use of eMag's Conversion Service Centers based in the USA and Europe, you can take advantage of over 25 years of experience in all types of media and data conversion problems. This can include data recovery from damaged tapes. Our Conversion Service Centers have tools that allow us to read tapes from any source such as Honeywell, DEC, Univac, Data General, as well as standard tapes from IBM's range of products such as System 36 and AS400. Data files may then be converted with just a simple EBCDIC to ASCII Conversion or with more complex routines to take care of packed fields and internal date formats.
The following lists give some advantages of converting open reel (9-track) tape
- No longer need to maintain 0.5" tape drive
- Data more secure
- Multiple copies can be made
- Tape images can be stored for forensic type investigation
- Data can be converted to be PC compatible
- Tapes may be stacked onto a smaller number of output tapes
For more details, please contact us with an outline of your requirements.
Writing CDROMS directly from tape
It is a commonly asked question about how to write (or burn) a CD directly from a tape. This is in fact very straightforward but not in the single stage that most people expect. There are several reasons why it is not possible to do a simultaneous tape read and CD write, but. there are also several solutions that overcome the apparent problem.
In order to write a CD there are two main conditions. All file sizes and names must be known at the start, and secondly, all writing must be done without a break. On the first problem, very few tapes have a directory of file and file sizes. If for instance a standard labeled tape is used, then only by reading the whole tape can one determine what is on the tape. In addition the file size is not known until the end of the tape. Unix tapes are slightly better in that the file size is given at the start of the file, but one cannot determine if there are more files on the tape.
The second problem is one of speed. Generally tapes can provide data at a faster rate than CDs can be written, but due to this the tape will often need to stop and reposition in order to synchronize data rates. This process may easily then result in a data under-run and hence ruin the CD being created. The other problem can occur when an error is detected in the tape. Some drives will retention the whole tape taking a few minutes to try and overcome the error. No CD can be written in this way.
The solution though is very simple. Using MediaMerge/PC, it is possible to read a tape and write to CD. Obviously from the notes above MM/PC has to buffer the files, but the operation is performed as a single process. The program will even divide files up to spread over several CDs. For labeled tapes a log is retained to indicate which saveset has been stored on which CD so that archives may be made.
MM/PC will read tapes in any format, if necessary provide EBCDIC to ASCII conversion and also restructure records using the Record Reformatter. The process between reading tapes and writing CDs is therefore as simple as reading the tape, selecting the files and calling a CD writing program.