Comment by Animats
2 months ago
I still have my undergrad compiler project on UNIVAC UNISERVO II steel tape. 8 track (6 data bits, one parity, one clock). Either 50 or 200 BPI. Return to zero recording. I doubt there's a drive anywhere that could read it. But it's probably intact.
I imagine that the same procedure Kossow is using for the V4 tape would work, although you might need a few passes to get the tracks aligned properly with the heads. Once you have the analog waveforms digitized, decoding the data is just a matter of fiddling around in Jupyter for a while. RZ should be especially easy.
It will continue to be intact until you try to read it; then, who knows?
There's no oxide coating. It's a ribbon of steel on a steel reel.
Sorry; was trying to make a "Schrödinger's mag tape" joke, but failed.