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8mm Exabyte blanks Avail

Chuck(G)

Chuck(G)

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Jan 11, 2007
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I've got a pile (perhaps two dozen) of unused Exabyte 8mm DDS tapes. I think most, if not all are 90m Maxells.

Can anyone use these? They might work in an 8mm videocam...

Yours for shipping.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Try going through the mechanism with a long cotton swab moistened in alcohol. Often, that will pry enough of the old oxide deposits loose...
Click to expand...

That's a much better way to clean but, don't clean any of the rubber parts with it. Only metal parts of the transport. Only use the medical swabs too. Q-tips and the like can contain glue that dissolves in the alcohol and just makes things worse. I'm not sure Q-tips do anymore but, better to be safe then sorry. The off brands might.
 
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RetroHacker_ said:
What Exabyte drive is it? The ones I use don't have "clean" indicators. You just clean the drive when you start to get data errors...
Click to expand...

Later Exabyte drives have a "clean" LED--my 8700 certainly does. OTOH, my 8200 has an LCD display above the drive and I've never seen it say "Clean".
 
Chuck(G) said:
OTOH, my 8200 has an LCD display above the drive and I've never seen it say "Clean".
Click to expand...

I have seen a couple drives in enclosures with LCD's, but off the top of my head, I don't remember what the added benifit of the display was, or even how it itnerfaced to the drive.

I use Exabyte 8200 (and occasionally 8500) drives, and they have two indicators. One for access, and one for "Ready/thinking/you can have your tape back when I'm good and ready to give it to you... *whirr*"

I actually use mostly video tape in my drives - it may not be what you're supposed to use, but I can buy them at the grocery store, so it has extra points for availability.

-Ian
 
My LCD-equipped 8200 box bears the nameplate "Contemporary Cybernetics CY-8200". The drive inside is most certainly an Exabyte (has the brand), but I suspect Contemporary has their own version of the firmware that also drives the LCD. The LCD gives information about what the drive's currently doing and how much tape remains on the cart. It's interesting, but my 8700 does a better job of reading 8200 tapes.

I seem to remember that the "Clean" indicator on the Exabytes comes on automatically after a certain length of tape has been processed. It's kind of like the "service" indicator on your car that reminds you to change the oil. It doesn't actually know if you changed the oil or not, but is programmed to light up at 5000 mile intervals.

I believe there's a SCSI command to reset the "Clean" indicator; I'll do some checking.

Edit: Yup, the "Clean" indicator comes on after 30 "tape motion hours". It can be reset by issuing a LOG SELECT command, specifying PCR (parameter reset) and page 2EH (Tape Alert). The "Clean" indicator has nothing to do with the actual cleanliness (or lack thereof) of your tape drive.
 
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