NEW article about recommendations for DAT (from a seller of NOS blank stock)

[morst]

I don't see why most of us would be recording on DAT anymore so I'm posting this link here in the PLAYBACK forum.

The Complete DAT Tape Archiving Guide: Best Blank DAT Tapes for Preserving Audio

JULY 24, 2026 ADRIAN STRAND

https://ultraferric.com/blogs/news/blank-dat-tape-archiving-guide

I did not know that the recommended relative humidity to store (and presumably transfer) DAT is 45-50%.

[GLouie]

I'm not so sure I would call it a "complete" guide, I think there are a few things not mentioned.

IASA TC-04 is a good general reference for most media archiving and transfer. You can read it online, buy a paperback book, or become a member and get the PDF.
https://www.iasa-web.org/tc04/audio-preservation

The temp and humidity are, I think, pretty standard recommendations for most media.

There is no mention of DDS data storage tapes, which I believe are still available, including cleaning tapes. The mechanics are identical to DAT, although they are categorized by length in meters rather than time, like DAT. And they are available in lengths longer than the equivalent 120 minute DAT, which means some DAT transports may not handle them very well.

One story I heard was that DDS tapes were from the middle of the big, wide "web" of tape before slitting, as it always had the fewest errors. DATs were made from the inferior side pieces. No idea if true.

There are probably a million transfer tips that one could tick off, but I think the major problem with transfers today (besides tape and machine rot) are that few people are willing to clean their DAT transport carefully as it usually requires a lot of disassembly and a lot of fiddly work. Most capstans are caked with tape deposits and have never been clean during the life of the machine.

My anecdotal experience is that all brands of tapes have wide variations in deterioration over the years.

[morst]

I'm not so sure I would call it a "complete" guide, I think there are a few things not mentioned.

IASA TC-04 is a good general reference for most media archiving and transfer. You can read it online, buy a paperback book, or become a member and get the PDF.
https://www.iasa-web.org/tc04/audio-preservation

The temp and humidity are, I think, pretty standard recommendations for most media.

There is no mention of DDS data storage tapes, which I believe are still available, including cleaning tapes. The mechanics are identical to DAT, although they are categorized by length in meters rather than time, like DAT. And they are available in lengths longer than the equivalent 120 minute DAT, which means some DAT transports may not handle them very well.

One story I heard was that DDS tapes were from the middle of the big, wide "web" of tape before slitting, as it always had the fewest errors. DATs were made from the inferior side pieces. No idea if true.

There are probably a million transfer tips that one could tick off, but I think the major problem with transfers today (besides tape and machine rot) are that few people are willing to clean their DAT transport carefully as it usually requires a lot of disassembly and a lot of fiddly work. Most capstans are caked with tape deposits and have never been clean during the life of the machine.

My anecdotal experience is that all brands of tapes have wide variations in deterioration over the years.

Yeah Complete is definitely an overstatement.

DDS tapes have a little something different on the tape leader - DDS has some small patches of magnetic material which help the machine tell the total length.

I take it that cleaning tapes don't really clean the capstans fully? As they are only 4mm wide, I guess they could leave crud above and below the utilized section?
I've definitely never cleaned a DAT manually.