🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1993Jan15.152232.12907@nap.amoco.com>, zlew14@NAP.AMOCO.COM (LEWALL@NAP.AMOCO.COM (Larry 
Wall)) writes:

> Can anyone tell me how to "WIPE" data of of 9 track 6250bpi 1/2" tapes
> efficiently and quickly.  I have 1000 plus tapes and have tried a tape
> eraser which will do about 3 tapes and then gets hot and has to cool for
> 20 minutes.  I also have a program to re-write over all the tapes but
> I do not have the time to mount and write 1000 tapes.  Thanks for any
> input on how the tapes can be erased quickly.

Hopefully this answer hasn't scrolled of my (low-capacity) newsreader:  Buy a
degausser.  Basically an electromagnet the size of a household iron (and
similarly shaped!), take the tapes AND the degausser WAY away from any computer
media you want KEPT... then hold the degausser up to each tape, press the "on
switch", and "iron" the outside of the tape for a few seconds in a circular and
cross-hatch pattern.  The electromagnet makes the tape effectively "blank". 
I'm not sure where Pima College got theirs, but we do this to all tapes we
RECEIVE (many local businesses donate old/unused tapes for our use, especially
as they go to cartridges).
-----
Ray Harwood           |Data Basix           |Adjunct Faculty, East Campus,
Voice: (602)721-1988  |PO Box 18324         |   Pima Community College
FAX:   (602)721-7240  |Tucson, AZ 85731     |Instructor in Ada and Pascal
CompuServe: 76645,1370|AppleLink: DATA.BASIX|Internet: rharwood@east.pima.edu