[Simh] Reading VMS Backup tapes on Linux

[Jon Elson]

> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2012 13:00:06 -0400
> From: Stephen Hoffman <Info at HoffmanLabs.Com>
>
>   
> <snip>
> If you're looking for a project to assist with, then Mr Elson might be interested in some assistance with his virtual tape project.
Well, I'm pretty satisfied so far.  I have been able to recover the 
files from several
VMS Backup tapes created with different VMS versions, different tape 
drives and
maybe some different types of files, too.  So, this all seems to be 
working well.
I can also recover ASCII text in both ANSI-D (counted record length) and 
CR/LF
separated files.
I tried to recover some Burroughs data for a friend (that was what 
largely started this
whole exercise) and his tapes are complete crap, the oxide is coming off 
in chunks.
But, my tapes must have been stored in better conditions, they are still 
quite
recoverable.

Thanks much for keeping vmsbackup alive, I just don't know if I would 
have gone to
the trouble of trying to decipher a backup tape without such a program 
available.

Jon