On Tue, Jun 23, 2026 at 4:25 PM Bill Degnan via cctalk <[email protected]> wrote: > > I have found that a modernish Dell PC (win 7 era) when attached to a m4 > 9914 tape drive has issues when attempting to read 800dpi 9track tapes. > I/O errors that seem to be centered around variable block size microcode of > the modern scsi controller (?) > > I've spent a number of hours on it and I could not even pull raw data off > an 800dpi tape. 1600 no problem. works fine. > > is there a tweener box or scsi controller that will work in this situation? > what do other people do? > > Bill
If it was me and I suspected SCSI issues, I might try removing the SCSI interface in the M4 9914 and controlling it through the Pertec interface. If I remember correctly from when I owned an M4 9914 years ago, the SCSI interface connects to the standard Pertec interface of the M4 9914 and the SCSI interface could be removed. Of course that wouldn't help if you don't already have a Pertec interface host controller. I happen to have some Computer Logics PCTD-16 ISA bus Pertec interfaces which I use to control Fujistu M2444AC tape drives. Too bad those drives don't do 800BPI. Also too bad I didn't keep the M4 9914. I gave it away after the tach roller quit working correctly. Probably could have fixed that by replacing the disintegrated rubber on the tach roller.
