Michael J. Mahon wrote:
I've thought a bit about this... If there is any desire to keep the data in usable form, then it is necessary to copy it periodically. This would be true even if it were to be copied to new 9-track tapes! There are really only two choices: continuously copy the data to new media, or kiss it off as lost forever.
<snip>
-michael
Even worse, I read a newspaper article about those tapes a couple years back. The article said that NASA no longer had a machine that would play some of the older tapes. Hopefully they've rectified that since then.
Wayne