Bandit LOAF
Long Live the Confederation!
During my survey back in April I took note of 44, 88 and 200 meg SyQuest drives - 20 to 40 units.
I have bought a SyQuest SQ5200C drive, which is supposedly capable of reading all three formats. In addition, Dundradal has kindly donated an external drive which can read the 44 MB disks, which we can use as a backup.
My current thought is to install the drive on my Windows desktop and then use some software that will let me read Mac-format disks. Does anyone have a favorite? This list seems to be a good starting point: http://home.earthlink.net/~gamba2/pc2mac.html
Here's some recon from our xOrigin pals (straight from our project bible!):
Trey Hermann, on the SyQuest Drives:
“Wow, I haven't thought about a SyQuest drive in quite some time. The SyQuest drive was a magnetic media device that we used for storing data prior to learning that there was a high level of media decay associated with the magnetic system. We then switched over to CDs for all archives. I hate to be the one carrying bad news, but I suspect those SyQuest disks will be in pretty bad shape. They would begin dropping data after only six months and were not considered to be a stable, long-term archival solution. I wish the best of luck and hopefully you can pull some good stuff out of the archives!”
David Swofford, on the SyQuest Drives:
“I just walked over and spoke to our creative services mgr. He says that those things were both PC and Mac, but mostly Mac. I believe I recall that our creative services dept used those. There's probably a ton of package art and other marketing materials/art on those things. Our guy says he actually has one that's gathering dust. So you might have a seller if it comes to that. But there are different sizes. Can you tell me what size those drives are? Maybe I can get some more info on what you'll need.”
Any better suggestions? Exact practices?
My hope is that the SyQuests will be done on Day One and that that machine will then become a second 8mm tape reader.
I have bought a SyQuest SQ5200C drive, which is supposedly capable of reading all three formats. In addition, Dundradal has kindly donated an external drive which can read the 44 MB disks, which we can use as a backup.
My current thought is to install the drive on my Windows desktop and then use some software that will let me read Mac-format disks. Does anyone have a favorite? This list seems to be a good starting point: http://home.earthlink.net/~gamba2/pc2mac.html
Here's some recon from our xOrigin pals (straight from our project bible!):
Trey Hermann, on the SyQuest Drives:
“Wow, I haven't thought about a SyQuest drive in quite some time. The SyQuest drive was a magnetic media device that we used for storing data prior to learning that there was a high level of media decay associated with the magnetic system. We then switched over to CDs for all archives. I hate to be the one carrying bad news, but I suspect those SyQuest disks will be in pretty bad shape. They would begin dropping data after only six months and were not considered to be a stable, long-term archival solution. I wish the best of luck and hopefully you can pull some good stuff out of the archives!”
David Swofford, on the SyQuest Drives:
“I just walked over and spoke to our creative services mgr. He says that those things were both PC and Mac, but mostly Mac. I believe I recall that our creative services dept used those. There's probably a ton of package art and other marketing materials/art on those things. Our guy says he actually has one that's gathering dust. So you might have a seller if it comes to that. But there are different sizes. Can you tell me what size those drives are? Maybe I can get some more info on what you'll need.”
Any better suggestions? Exact practices?
My hope is that the SyQuests will be done on Day One and that that machine will then become a second 8mm tape reader.
