Disks and Tapes

Quayle Consulting Performs Unique Data Conversion Services

  • Converting legacy floppies and tapes for use on modern Windows, Mac, and Linux systems.
  • Migrating customer data from legacy systems to virtual disks for use with the Charon emulators.
  • Conversion of floating-point data into open formats.
  • Conversion of VMS 64-bit date values into open formats.
  • Conversion of RT-11 and other PDP-11 format floppies.
  • Rebuild of boot sectors from improper OpenVMS backups.

Quayle Consulting can accept the following media

Disks

  • Floppy disks: 3.5 inch, 5-1/4 inch and 8 inch written by Windows, Unix, Linux, DOS, and OpenVMS
  • Linux format and OpenVMS format CD-ROM and DVD
  • 3.5 inch magneto-optical (MO) disk
  • 8-bit and 16-bit StorageWorks disk units
  • 50-pin and 68-pin SCSI disk without an enclosure
  • SATA and IDE disks without an enclosure

Tapes

  • 9-track tape, including 800, 1600, and 6250 BPI
  • DLT Tape formats: DLTape IV (DLT-IV), DLTape III (DLT-III)
  • DEC Tape formats:
    • TK50 (CompacTape)
    • TK70 (CompacTape III)
    • TZ30, TZ85, TZ86, TZ87
    • 1/4 inch ("quarter inch") cartridge (DEC TZK10)

We cannot read

  • Apple Mac disks
  • CP/M disks
  • Disks that have "hard sectors', such as IBM word processor disks

Any quotes are for disks and tapes created with standard backup utilities. Non-standard backup software will require research on a time-and-materials basis.

For more information or a free consultation, click on the button below to contact Quayle Consulting.

Contact Quayle Consulting

The following equipment enables the above conversion capabilities

VAX Systems

  • VAXstation 4000/60, with OpenVMS installed.
  • Custom VAXstation, with drive to read 8-inch floppies

PC Systems

  • Toshiba Tecra M5 laptop, with Windows 10 Pro.
  • Dell XPS400, running CentOS Linux.
  • Custom system built by ASA Computers (off page) , running Windows Server 2016.

Other DEC Items

  • Two DEC TSZ07 (off page) 9-track reel-to-reel tape drives.
  • Exabyte 8505 tape drive. Can read 8mm tapes, such as the Sony QG-112M.
  • Six TZ87-TA tape drives. Can read TK50, TK70, and DLT-3 tapes.
  • Software for VAX and Alpha, copied from Consolidated Distribution CD's.
  • A large collection of MMJ cables and connectors.

Test/Development Equipment

  • CommFront 232Analyzer serial port analyzer.
  • BP Microsystems EP-1140 EPROM programmer

For more information or a free consultation, click on the button below to contact Quayle Consulting.

Contact Quayle Consulting

Charon Platforms

Quayle Consulting provides full evaluation and migration support. We have emulation solutions for these legacy hardware platforms: