Archiving Data Permanently

[Tim]

On Thu, 2005-08-18 at 22:13 -0400, Claude Jones wrote:

> Even if it's stored properly, vertically, not horizontal on the spool,
> in temperature and climate controlled conditions, there is a wide
> disparity in tape longevity.

I'd go further.  Some tapes are just chemically unstable.  Firstly,
there's the obvious:  Those tapes that smell strong are releasing their
contents into the air.  But what I was thinking about was the old
open-reel video tapes I've got.  Many of them, while spending ages
sitting wrapped up in their boxes, inside a plastic bag, have gone bad
all by themselves.  If you try to play one, they stick in the tape path,
and squeal as they're forced to move across heads and tape guides.

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