🚀 go-pugleaf

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

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

I remember test driving a VCR system on a VAX over 6 years ago - I think
it was called DIGIDATA and have seen a site which uses one. However, it
was quickly overtaken by 8mm.

However, I attended a presentation last year (by CONVEX) which referred
to a 2nd attempt to harness the technology with much improved capacity
and data rates - forgotten the name, but DD2 comes to mind.

Cheers,
	Mark
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