[?] Bulk tape eraser - doesn't erase DAT tapes.

For security reasons I've been trying to use a Weircliffe BTE200 bulk tape eraser to wipe a number of already recorded DAT tapes that I have been given. Most of them are data tapes (Fuji DG4-150), and a few are digital audio tapes (TDK Studio 124) - all of the same physical size and appearance.

I've been following the instructions for the eraser, and it lights up and 'buzzes' appropriately whenever the drawer is slid in, but the recorded information on a tape is still there after an erase sequence, and quite readable even after the tape has had several more passes through the eraser. Unfortunately the company that made the eraser no longer exists so I can't ask them for help.

I'm wondering if a possible reason for this might be that a digital recording modulates the tape to such an high level that the magnetic particles on it can no longer be randomly rearranged by the tape eraser.

I could, of course, put each tape back into the DAT recorder and overwrite it with 'blank data' but this would take hours and hours in view of the number of tapes that I have got, as well as causing a lot of unnecessary wear to the recorder itself.

I don't know enough about this subject and wonder if anyone in this NG can explain why the eraser 'doesn't'. I've got lots of these tapes - does anyone (in the UK) need any if/once they have been properly erased?

ATB - Dave

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David C.Chapman - (dcchapman@minda.co.uk)
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David Chapman
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That is a "standard" tape eraser that is made essentially only for audio tapes - that is to say, only for tapes using low coercivity ferrite. DAT and other computer tapes use a high coercivity ferrite and take about three times (or so) the AC magnetic field for effective erasure. You need to use a BIG tape eraser, not a wimpy one hiding in a "big" box.

Reply to
Robert Baer

Ah! That explains it then. Many thanks for responding so clearly and quickly. Now I must look around and try to find out where I can hire/borrow a BIG tape eraser in the SE London area.

ATB, and thanks again - Dave

--
David C.Chapman - (dcchapman@minda.co.uk)
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Reply to
David Chapman

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