Digital Linear Tape (DLT) is is a family of tape formats that were developed by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) from 1984 onwards.
| Model | IBM 7205 440 |
|---|---|
| Media | DLT IV (and possibly DLT III) |
| SCSI Signaling Type | Low Voltage Differential (LVD) |
| Interface | Fast Wide SCSI |
| Connector | 68 pin HD D-Sub (HD-68) (see also 5th from top here) |
| Cable | At the outgoing side is a male VHDCI SCSI connector (bottommost here) |
| Workstation connection | Can be connected directly with workstation's SCSI controller (which has a female VHDCI connector) |
| Documentation |
| Model | Adaptec SCSI Card 29320LPE |
|---|---|
| Bus System Interface Type | PCI Express x1 |
| External Connectors | 68-pin VHDCI |
| Data Transfer Rate | Up to 320 MByte/sec. |
Note that by default the controller has a standard height (120 mm) bracket that won't fit into a low-profile (79.2 mm) slot! When these controllers were sold new, they came with a replacement low-profile bracket, but these are often not included with used ones. The low-profile replacement brackets are sometimes sold separately on eBay.
Always make sure that both the tape reader and the computer are switched off before connecting or disconnecting. Not doing so may cause damage to the computer, the tape reader or both.
The drive needs to be cleaned periodically with a cleaning cartridge.
tapeimgr, running in BitCurator.
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Check the write-protect tab on the bottom of the cartridge, and slide it to the leftmost position. The orange indicator must be visible:
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Lift the cartridge insert/release handle:
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Insert the tape cartridge into the drive. Make sure the printed side is on top, and that the tape is inserted in the direction of the arrow symbol:
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Lower the cartridge insert/release handle:
The green "tape in use" indicator light (2nd from the top) now starts blinking. Once the tape is completely loaded, the blinking stops and the indicator light is lit solid.
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Check that the green "write-protected" indicator light (top-right) is lit:
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Create an empty directory for storing the extracted tape contents.
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Start tapeimgr from the OS's main menu (in Ubuntu 18.04 the tapeimgr item is located under System Tools), or by clicking the tapeimgr shortcut on the desktop.
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Use the Select Output Directory button to navigate to the empty directory created under step 6. Click on the UUID button to generate a unique identifier. Use the Description field to enter a description of the tape (e.g. the title that is written on its label or inlay card). Optionally, use the Notes field to record anything else worth mentioning about the tape (e.g. if the Description is ambiguous because the writing on the tape's label is illegible, make a note of it here).
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Press the Start button to start the extraction, and then wait for tapeimgr to finish (depending on the amount of data on the tape this may take several hours). You can monitor the progress of the extraction procedure in the progress window:
Note that the screen output is also written to a log file in the output directory. A prompt appears when the extraction has finished:
If the extraction finished without any errors, the output directory now contains the following files:
Here, file000001.dd through file000003.dd are the extracted files; checksums.sha512 contains the SHA512 checksums of the extracted files, metadata.json contains some basic metadata and tapeimgr.log is the log file.
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When tapeimgr has finished, wait until the "tape in use" indicator light stops blinking, and the green "operate handle" light (bottom-right) comes on. Now lift the cartridge insert/release handle:
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Take out the tape cartridge. All done!
Make sure to lower the insert/release handle again at the end of your tape reading session (i.e. before switching off the tape reader).