12-09-2009, 11:13 AM
Connie, if you haven't junked the tapes & they were personal, Jimbo was able to save some tapes for a friend (not mold encrusted, but they did have mold...), recorded them to digital, then junked the molded tapes (cannot do this with commercial tapes, only personal... something about the formatting...)
ETA: Procedure:
Dry the tapes as much as you can in a sealed container with desiccant (we used crystal kitty litter)
Vacuum the tapes to vacuum out as much of the dry mold (we vacuumed while turning the tapes)
Run the tapes in a cheap rewinder (not the 'rewind' on a tape deck) vacuum the rewinder & tapes
Using a sacrificial tape deck, play the tapes while copying onto digital format... we vacuumed the deck often. Some of the images had been 'mold scarred', but most of the memories were preserved.
****My first rule of what to bring:
No matter what you bring, make sure that anything that cannot be cleaned easily & often, is stored in a sealed container with a desiccant. Mold seems to grow on just about anything here (even on the "dry side", we are finding out...).****
ETA: Procedure:
Dry the tapes as much as you can in a sealed container with desiccant (we used crystal kitty litter)
Vacuum the tapes to vacuum out as much of the dry mold (we vacuumed while turning the tapes)
Run the tapes in a cheap rewinder (not the 'rewind' on a tape deck) vacuum the rewinder & tapes
Using a sacrificial tape deck, play the tapes while copying onto digital format... we vacuumed the deck often. Some of the images had been 'mold scarred', but most of the memories were preserved.
****My first rule of what to bring:
No matter what you bring, make sure that anything that cannot be cleaned easily & often, is stored in a sealed container with a desiccant. Mold seems to grow on just about anything here (even on the "dry side", we are finding out...).****