Quote Originally Posted by Digital Conservationist View Post
Do raw dumps and worry about format later!

Making linear, 1:1 backups of these tapes to modern day system is an absolute necessity for several reasons.
1.) Posterity -- Data integrity is a strict requirement for saying "Look what I dun." both from the originator's stand point and archivist's.
2.) Accessibility -- If dumped properly, these tapes can be mounted through an emulator and messed around with a million times by many interested/allowed parties who are trying to decrypt and extract data.
3.) Longevity -- The less you screw with the physical tapes, the longer they'll last. Doing a raw dump is a one shot thing and it makes the data available, presumably forever on an alternate medium, if maintained properly.
I agree!

Getting a 1:1 bitwise copy is the utmost importance!

Especially of any tapes aged 15-20 years or older.

Magnetic tape can be pretty resilient to "bitrot" but, age is the enemy of all metal-oxide storage mediums.

I expect a fair percentage of the tape formats to be unusual/outdated/obscure - to the point that even if you find a working drive and dump the data, decoding it is another problem.