Will old TK50 tape cartridges work on a modern DLT drive?

[Kwad Guy]

I noticed that our company is tossing boxes of old DEC TK50 tapes
into the hopper...These LOOK identical to modern DLT tapes...but are
they? Will these work in a modern DLT 7000 (or DLT 4000) drive?
What's the capacity of these tapes? If it's only a gig or two, then
it wouldn't be worthwhile even if it's possible...

Kwad

 

[bozo1]

TK50's will not work in DLT drives. TK50 was invented by DEC in 1984 to use on their VAX systems. These are considered CompacTape I devices. CompacTape II came in 1989. (TF85 I believe) CompacTape III is what is used in current DLT 10/20, 15/30 tape drives. CompacTape IV (or DLTIV) is what you use in 20/40 drives and 35/70 drives. The read/write heads differ greatly between the TK50/TK85 world and the current world.

Oh yea, capacity of TK50 was a whopping 95MB. (or 93 or 94, can't remember)