What are these tapes?

[DJduck]

A friend and I were exploring an abandoned warehouse today and found literally hundreds of these tapes stacked up against a wall. What are they?

[budm]

Re: What are these tapes?

Just the magnetic tapes for digital Data recording, old tech.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_tape_data_storage

[stj]

Re: What are these tapes?

computer tape - looks like 2400ft reels.
i'v not seen those for a long time!

[Uniballer]

Re: What are these tapes?

The label on the third tape says it is the 4th tape of a 4 tape set of updates to an IBM operating system (VM) that ran on IBM mainframes. It is about 20 years old.

The tape format is linear with 9 tracks and 6250 bits per inch GCR (group coded recording). You can get maybe 140MB on a tape like that. These tapes were popular for backup and data interchange on mini and mainframe computers.

[DJduck]

Re: What are these tapes?

So magnetic tapes, eh? They worth anything? And since magnetic, maybe they can be used as reel-to-reel tape?

[ratdude747]

Re: What are these tapes?

So magnetic tapes, eh? They worth anything? And since magnetic, maybe they can be used as reel-to-reel tape?

Dude, be careful... I've already requested this be moved to VIP... since you probably broke the law... trespassing and if you took anything, theft. "abandoned" doesn't mean "ownerless"... all it takes is an owner finding this somehow and your life goes to hell for a while.

[SteveNielsen]

Re: What are these tapes?

No they won't work for audio r2r tape decks if that's what you mean. Wrong tape width, wrong reel type. Ratdude is right, if it's not yours legit then it's not yours to take.

[DJduck]

Re: What are these tapes?

This place is pretty much owner less. It's an old communist era building, roof caved in, no windows, doors wide open. A lot of people go there, it is completely abandoned, the owner has not been there for years and he does not give a damn about the place (I pretty much know the guy). Most good stuff like copper has been taken to the scrap by the owner, and he left behind what he did not want. Everything is up for grab, every one goes hoarding in old buildings around here, and the owners don't care. A lot of folks have been there already, lots of tapes have been thrown all around the place.

[Topcat]

Re: What are these tapes?

I can only imagine what those would have cost when they were new... I wouldn't worry too much about 'claiming' those if the property is as stated.....as long as your country doesn't hang thieves...

I wandered through an old hospital that was abandoned since the 1940's and found a textbook on operative surgery written in the 1920's......was interesting to see the differences from then to now. Yup, I took it and still have it to this day.

[stj]

Re: What are these tapes?

those tapes were about $20 new about 30 years ago.

[Topcat]

Re: What are these tapes?

^
They're probably older than that. 30yrs ago, we had HDD's. I wonder what's on them.........

[stj]

Re: What are these tapes?

yes, "we" had haddrives - ESDI &SCSI, and my c64 had 51/4inch floppies.

but company's still stuck with the old kit.
i remember those tapes in my INMAC catalog.

[Topcat]

Re: What are these tapes?

yes, "we" had haddrives - ESDI &SCSI, and my c64 had 51/4inch floppies.

but company's still stuck with the old kit.
i remember those tapes in my INMAC catalog.

True, very true.....I think some government agencies still use these tapes.....thats how antiquated the US is these days...

[stj]

Re: What are these tapes?

i read a thing only yesterday that 60minutes did a thing on the u.s. balistic missile systems and found they still used 8inch floppies and rotary-dial telephones etc!!!!!

[stj]

Re: What are these tapes?

http://www.geek.com/chips/americas-n...discs-1592596/

[pfrcom]

Re: What are these tapes?

Guy I worked with, recommended discarded magnetic tape for tying up garden plants - because it's wide, light and strong

Tape generally got discarded by being cut off from front of reels when a section got faulty, then a new beginning-of-tape marker was applied - try doing something like that with a floppy disk

FWIW, first tape reels I worked with as a computer operator recorded at 556 BPI

[ratdude747]

Re: What are these tapes?

True, very true.....I think some government agencies still use these tapes.....thats how antiquated the US is these days...

If it ain't broke don't fix it. Heck, you see how many old boards get recapped out of CNC machines... while it's obsolete, in some cases, it's not worth the cost or risk of data loss to redo a system.

[Agent24]

Re: What are these tapes?

I sense flipped bits...

[DJduck]

Re: What are these tapes?

Thank you all for your replies. It is very interesting to read up on old tech. And LOL at the military still using floppies.

So the tapes are worthless? They do sem ti be strong and long, I guess I'll find a use for them and maybe keep a few as souvenirs.

[Agent24]

Re: What are these tapes?

Good for collectors and museums maybe, worthless for use unless there is some interesting data on them..