These include:
Due to the age and storage conditions of the remaining 9 and 21 track tapes still in existence today, all of this valuable data is now considered to be at serious risk of imminent, permanent data loss.
Tape Ark uses its own custom designed software, developed to handle many of the complex issues that can be encountered during the transcription of legacy 9 track tape media. Utilizing our extensive inventory of legacy tape drives and infrastructure spanning 60 years of technology, our highly trained and experienced data technicians will ensure that regaining access to and preserving your valuable geophysical data becomes a reality.
Data transcription and migration to the cloud using Tape Ark’s advanced data recovery and transcription workflow is the most logical, reliable and effective data management plan for this at-risk data.
Open reel 9 and 21 track tapes represent the start of commercially available data storage media and became available to general consumers in the late 1950s (for 7 track tapes) and the late 1960s (for 9 track tapes).
Since their release, tens of millions of the tapes have been used to store critical data for a variety of industries, and arguably the largest user of the media was the oil and gas industry. Large seismic surveys worth millions of dollars were often recorded to 9 track tapes and today, these geophysical legacy tapes are still the largest remaining open reel archives left in the world.
Over time, the 9 track tape data capacity, length, and recording density, have all increased. In the early 1980s, in an effort to increase the capacity of data that could be held on a single reel, many manufacturers made the tapes thinner so that more tape could be wrapped onto a single spool. The change in the manufacturing process and the delicate balance of chemicals in an effort to make the tapes thinner, resulted in an unexpected and potentially disastrous effect.
This effect is now well known in the oil and gas industry as Stiction (Sticky-Friction). This delicate condition caused the oxide on the tape to become sticky and delicate and if not handled correctly, would result in permanent data loss.
Tape Ark have developed proven procedures that allow even the stickiest of tapes to be read with maximum data recovery achieved.
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NB: Some services are not currently available in all geographical locations – please Contact Us for availability.
Tape Ark prides itself on its technical capability. Customers feel assured their objectives and unique challenges are well understood – what’s important to them, where they’re headed, and the opportunities that lie ahead.
Restoring data from legacy formats requires deep technical knowledge and experience.
At Tape Ark, we specialize in rapidly migrating media tapes to the cloud, regardless of volume, size, or format.
The world’s only dedicated tape to cloud mass migration experts.
