Can I read old Qic-80 tapes in HP Colorado 5GB Internal streamer?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Zebrauno
  • Start date Start date
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Zebrauno

Recently I discovered some old (1991-1995) DC2120 tapes (QIC-80
format).
I have no idea of the Hardware and software used to write these tapes,
also I REALLY need to read from them all the material possibile.

Now I'm using an HP Colorado Travan 8GB internal (IDE) streamer with
Colorado Backup software, but it seem's to be unable to read anything
from old DC2120 tapes.

In the HP compatibility table I found that Colorado 5 and 8GB units are
capable of reading such tapes...only in Win95-98 (where I'm now
working).

It's a problem of software or nobody had success in recovering old
QIC-80 tapes that way?
The tapes are in good conditions...
I think I can have an old Jumbo 250 streamer (floppy based) but still I
would like a suggestion for all the software needed to restore my
tapes...even in DOS or other OS...

In the office we have a licence of Veritas Backup EXEC 10 installed on
the server....in case was needed.

Thanks for your help

Cristian Atzori
Torino, Italy
 
Previously Zebrauno said:
Recently I discovered some old (1991-1995) DC2120 tapes (QIC-80
format).
I have no idea of the Hardware and software used to write these tapes,
also I REALLY need to read from them all the material possibile.
Click to expand...
Now I'm using an HP Colorado Travan 8GB internal (IDE) streamer with
Colorado Backup software, but it seem's to be unable to read anything
from old DC2120 tapes.
Click to expand...
In the HP compatibility table I found that Colorado 5 and 8GB units are
capable of reading such tapes...only in Win95-98 (where I'm now
working).
Click to expand...
It's a problem of software or nobody had success in recovering old
QIC-80 tapes that way?
The tapes are in good conditions...
I think I can have an old Jumbo 250 streamer (floppy based) but still I
would like a suggestion for all the software needed to restore my
tapes...even in DOS or other OS...
Click to expand...
In the office we have a licence of Veritas Backup EXEC 10 installed on
the server....in case was needed.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your help
Click to expand...

I would say it is well possible that the tapes hace degraded beyond
readability with normal equipment. Given that QIC-80 (and Travan) was
never really reliable in the first place, I would be surprised if
they were still readable after a decade. Also QIC-80 is for backups,
not archiving, i.e. it is not even intended to be readable after
this long. If that is the case, professional data recovery is your
only hope.

Still, it could be that the software/hardware is just incompatible.
I dropped QIC-8- after many, many problems, including verifies that
went fine, but test-restores that did not (defect, but no error
message) and other signs that this technology was not really intended
for backups, but only to get the customers money.

Arno
 
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