Maxell Helical-Scan 4mm data cartridges?

[Michael Shallcross]

Greetings, collective wisdom; one of my grad students recently uncovered 5 Maxell Helical-Scan 4mm data cartridges while processing a collection (see http://www.maxellcanada.com/pdfs/c_media/4mm.pdf for some relevant specs).  These are model HS-4/90s (90 meters of tape).

We don't have any idea what's on the tapes (they are labelled 'storage' and 'backup'...), but would like to take this opportunity to learn more about working with this storage media.  

We found a bunch of drives available on ebay, but before putting cash on the barrel head, we wondered if anyone has experience working with these.  Any hardware/software suggestions or general guidance would be most gratefully appreciated.  Thanks!

Cheers,

Mike

--
Michael Shallcross, CA
Lead Archivist for Curation

Bentley Historical Library

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