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ITC Computer System Announcements

ITC Announcement/Tape Reading Services to be Discontinued

Announcement revised
January 30, 2004

On Friday, January 30, 2004, ITC will discontinue the tape reading services which allowed faculty, staff, and students at U.Va. to transfer data from 9-track reel tapes to UNIX-based accounts for academic and research purposes. On Monday, February 16, 2004, tape reading services for 8mm cartridges and IBM 3480 cartridges will also be discontinued. Due to security restrictions, ITC will continue to process in-house (U.Va.) data that contains Protected Healthcare Information.

The aging of ITC's tape-reading equipment, the retirement of the reel tape hardware, the replacement of the mainframe computer, and a decline in the number of requests for this service are some of the reasons contributing to this decision. A survey of peer institutions, including Virginia Tech, UNC, the Cornell Theory Center, and the University of Delaware, indicates that tape-reading services have been, or are in the process of being, phased out.

In order to process any tape-reading requests prior to the discontinuation of the service, ITC will accept one 9-track tape per user written in the calendar year 2003 in formats we support through January 26, 2004. The deadline for reading 8mm and IBM 3480 cartridges (one per user) is February 10, 2004. Tape-reading requests should be directed to the ITC Help Desk in Wilson Hall, room 235. ITC suggests that researchers requesting data after this date explore the availability of alternate distribution media (like CDs or DVDs) from their data providers. It is also recommended that monies to use commercial tape reading and conversion services be included in future grant proposals.

Users with data on magnetic tape may consider these alternatives:

  • HSM
    HSM, the Hierarchical Storage Management, is a UNIX file server capable of holding between 8 and 10 terabytes of data on magnetic tape and is dedicated to providing users with a permanent place to store large and infrequently-used data files. The HSM is specifically designated for archival storage - it is not the place for files that are regularly used. Faculty and staff are granted 5GB of space with 20GB on request.

    Full details of the HSM and how to get space on the HSM are available at

    http://www.itc.virginia.edu/research/hsm.html

  • Fee-based Disk Storage Space ("Wedges")
    If you need more disk storage on ITC systems, you may lease a "wedge" of disk space from ITC at a fixed rate per 250 MB per year. The space is available for lease in increments of 250 MB only. ITC will allocate your disk wedge on the Network Appliance file server, home2.virginia.edu. Home2 is one of the servers which make up the ITC Home Directory Service (HDS) which provides access to your disk wedge from UNIX, Windows, and Macintosh systems.

    For details about this service, please see the Web page at

    http://www.itc.virginia.edu/unixsys/storage.html

  • Commercial Tape Reading and Conversion Services
    ITC provides the following information as a service; neither company is under contract to the University of Virginia and these are suggestions rather than recommendations.

    1. Computer Conversions
      www.data911.net
      El Cajon, CA
      1-800-DATA-011
      Email for an estimate; handle thousands of formats; translations available for an additional fee.

    2. Universal Conversion Services Inc.
      www.ucsidata.com
      Fairfax, VA
      1-877-854-9685
      Close by; handle a large number of formats.

  • PC Solutions
    Depending on the size of your dataset, you may also consider moving it to your PC and writing it to a Zip, CD, or DVD. For more information, see

    http://www.itc.virginia.edu/desktop/pc/backup/media.html

If you have further questions or concerns regarding this announcement, please contact the ITC Help Desk 4-3731 or by email to consult@virginia.edu.

Posted 11/3/03; updated 1/21/04