DDS tapes report as erased

Clarifications

Off-hand I'd say your issue is most likely related to tape degradation.
Tape backups are not the most reliable forms of data backup and do deteriorate with age. Since tapes are extremely vulnerable to environmental hazards, they should be stored in climate-controlled locations. If tapes are stored near any kind of source of electrostatic or magnetic discharge, data will most assuredly be lost over time.

It is possible that the tape drive is need of maintenance and/or head re-alignment. It would be wise to contact the tape drive's manufacturer for their recommendations.

I would recommend creating new copies of those backup tapes that are still readable as soon as possible and consider using a redundant Hard Drive backup system or burning the data to DVD or Blu-Ray discs.

If you have tapes that are no longer readable that once contained valuable data, you may want to investigate the many companies that specialize in data recovery that can be found on-line.

[b]Good Luck![/b]

do you run a head cleaner. It could also depend on the quality of the tapes and the amount of use that they have had.

Keep us informed as to your progress if you require further assistance.

If you think that any of the posts that have been made by all TR Members, have solved or contributed to solving the problem, please Mark them as Helpful so that others may benefit from the outcome. ;) :D

Is called Print through this is where the data on a different layer of tape comes through to a layer above. It's most noticeable with Audio Tapes where you can hear 2 or more voices at the same time or the same voice saying different things. With Data Tapes the same happens and the Data becomes unreadable.

Any stored tapes should be run through the drive at least once every six months to minimize this effect.

Not much else you can do here unfortunately and you need to remember that different Drives may not read the same tape so if the drive that it was recorded in has been changed it's entirely possible that a new replacement drive may not read the old Tapes.

Col