I have a few comments based on my experience with hardware and software since the early 1980s:
LOAF expressed concern on #Wingnut tonight about the need to find out how long it takes to copy a single tape. Given the fact that you have limited manpower and time to access the archive, it will be crucial that you make sure that the drives, interfaces and computers you use to make the recordings or copies are set to transfer at the fastest possible speed (preferably before you get to the archive site) in order to minimize copy times. One of the (possibly) relevant settings will be the DMA speed for each of these three components in the system.
DMA (Direct Memory Access) is a data transfer technique where a device is permitted to access memory without something like a device driver or other hardware to act as an intermediary. This technique greatly speeds data transfers, so you want to make sure that all components in the system are set to use DMA if it is available, and if different levels of DMA are allowed, you want to make sure you are using the fastest level available. 8-bit DMA is the oldest and slowest DMA speed and 16-bit DMA (aka Wide DMA) is at least twice as fast, although it is common to transmit as many bits as the data bus allows. This means that a 386 or faster machine may actually be transmitting 32 or more bits in a single operation, and this translates into a huge reduction in the time required to transfer data. Ultra-DMA (UDMA) transfers are faster still, and there are different UDMA levels as well.
As an example, I was involved in a short-term project to capture data in remote locations in Alaska in 2000 using a Windows 95 machine with a 486 processor. Every night we would capture several hours worth of data and then transfer the data to an IOmega Ditto drive the following morning. The project involved four teams at different geographic locations. Most of the teams were reporting that the morning transfers of data to the Ditto drives were taking about two hours, but one team was consistently taking ten hours to do so, and they were desperate to reduce this time. The computer operator of the slower transfer system and I compared settings on our machines, and it turned out that either his machine or the Ditto drive was only set to use 8-bit DMA transfers while both were capable of Wide DMA transfers. After changing the settings, he was able to perform the transfers in two hours like the other teams, so this improper setting increased the time required by a factor of five.
I don't know what kind of computers and OSes you will be using but you should make a point of making sure that device drivers for the external drives use DMA or UDMA if the drive supports it. It may be necessary to set DIP switches or adjust software interface settings in order to turn on DMA/UDMA support in the external drive as well.
I would also recommend that if you are using a SCSI interface that you check to see if it is set to operate at the maximum speed supported by the device you are connecting to it. For example, I have seen Adaptec SCSI interfaces that allowed users to set maximum data transfer speeds independently for particular device IDs. You have to use the SCSI BIOS interface at boot time in order to access and set these device speed settings, and you will have to consult the external drive documentation in order to determine the maximum permissible speed. Don't take it for granted that the SCSI host interface is set for the maximum speed available or the maximum speed supported by the SCSI drive!
If you manage to capture the Novell server data, you also need to be concerned about trying to lay your hands on the passwords for the server as well. At the least, you will want the administrator passwords, and it would also be convenient or perhaps necessary to have access to the user passwords as well. So keep an eye out for that information when you are going through the archive or communicating with someone who knows something about it. You might also inquire about the exact version and type of the Novell servers in question. Based on
this Wiki, you are probably dealing with Novell NetWare 386 or NetWare 3.x servers, although they could be earlier versions. Knowing the exact versions will reduce the amount of legwork your Novell researchers have to do.
LOAF suggested that it would be necessary to take along some Linux installations on one or more machines. One thing to keep in mind is that there is a great deal of variation among Linux distros in terms of what software and drivers are included. Even among versions of a specific distribution, you will likely find a great deal of variation. The point here is that you should try to make sure that you select particular distributions which not only run on the computers that you take to the archive site, you should also make sure in advance that they actually have drivers that support the external drives you plan to use and that the drivers are set up correctly prior to your arrival at the archive site.
