🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1993Jan26.045638.12425@netcom.com>, nagle@netcom.com (John Nagle) writes:
> gps19@herald.usask.ca (Gregory P. Siemens) writes:
>>Is it possible to use a VCR as a backup device.  What hardware and 
>>software would be needed?  I,m trying to come up with a cheap way of
>>storing large amounts of data.  If the hardware does not exist would it
>>be difficult to construct(ie. what would be required).  I would
>>appreciate any(!!) enlightenment on this subject(reasons it will or 
>>won't work, etc.).
> 
>       It's been done, but I haven't seen an adapter for doing it since
> about 1987.  Heavy redundancy in the data is necessary (one system
> recorded everything six times) because of the high noise level and
> dropout problems with VCRs.  VCRs are not well suited to stop-start
> operation, so buffering is a problem.  
> 
>       8mm drives are often warmed-over camcorder decks, and 8mm backup
> is a mature technology, although the drives still cost too much.
> At least the tape is cheap.  But VHS backup seems a dead technology.
> 
> 					John Nagle

I would be interested in any articals, information, or even adds documenting 
previous VCR interfaces. I have developed an interface that can store over 
600 Megabytes of error corrected data on a standard 3 hour tape ($5-00). 
Only 26% of the data is redundant for error correction and resulting error 
rates are very low ( 10**-11 --> 10**-13). Anyway if previous work in this area
has been done, i need references for my literature review.   

	Thanks M. Baguley

Marcus Baguley
Computer Science Dept.
Waikato University
Private Bag
Hamilton
New Zealand

EMAIL meb@waikato.ac.nz