Ya know..I've had minimal DAT failure in the 15 years I've been using them. Machines come and go, but DAT tapes I recorded way back when, even at 32k ("archive speed"), still play just fine. For that matter, the first machine I owned, one of the few commercial models ever sold (a JVC which began exhibiting major error problems in recording within 2 years and which was unrepairable) is still fine as a backup playback unit. I store the tapes in their original cases, I've dropped dozens of them with nary a realignment of magnetic patterns, and I still buy them by the caseload (60m DDS tapes for a little over $2 a pop). dl Tom Fine wrote: > Richard is 100% right. And, unlike reels and disks and cassettes, it's > hard to argue with any science behind you that you cannot get EXACTLY > what is on a non-damaged DAT and put it on your hard drive, using a > simple digital cable. If a DAT was recorded at 44.1K sampling rate, then > the same can be said about a simple S/PDF or AES connection between a > DAT machine and a CD recorder. > > So I can't see any reason to make a big deal about "preserving" DATs. I > CAN see making a huge deal about transferring DATs to other digital > media ASAP since DAT mechanisms are no longer made and it is a > fast-submerging format that is unlikely to be usable in a decade or two. > > Bottom line -- any dollars you'd invest in "preserving" DATs is better > invested in a managed-hard-drive storage system (managed = drives > continually refreshed and several backups of every file, off-site > backups preferable). > > -- Tom Fine > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard L. Hess" > <[log in to unmask]> > To: <[log in to unmask]> > Sent: Saturday, February 17, 2007 3:01 PM > Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] DAT Archival Housing > > >> At 02:43 PM 2007-02-17, Farris Wahbeh wrote: >>> List, >>> Any suggestions on how to archival-ly house DAT tapes would be most >>> helpful. >>> Are the plastic cases that they come with archival-ly sound? What are >>> some boxes that can be used >>> to house the tapes? Has anyone come across a box that fits both DAT >>> and CD's together? >>> I can't seem to find any in the Gaylord catalog. >> >> That's because they and the machines they play on are not archival. >> The only archival way of storing a DAT tape IMHO is to transfer it to >> a digital repository or a gold phthalocyanine dye CD-R, with the >> former method preferred. DATs are living on borrowed time. THey are >> far more fragile than analog open reel and fewer machines were >> produced (I think) and few if any machines are being made now...just >> like open reel in a much shorter timeframe. >> >> Cheers, >> >> Richard >> >> >> Richard L. Hess email: [log in to unmask] >> Aurora, Ontario, Canada (905) 713 6733 1-877-TAPE-FIX >> Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm >> Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes. >