Using Audio DATs in DDS drives

Ade Rixon

These pages contain information on using DDS (Digital Data Storage, i.e. computer data) drives to read DAT audio tapes. Be warned before you read further that disappointment and despair are frequent outcomes of attempting to do this.

(N.B.: This is not about the long-running Audio DAT vs. DDS media debate. Look on the DAT lists for that info.)

Overview	Summary and background information.
Hardware	DDS drives and firmware.
Software	Reading DAT audio tapes from suitable drives.
Resources	Other useful sources of information.
Email	Emails from various people about this subject.

What's new

Look for the and icons.

Admin note: If anyone wishes to mirror these pages, then adopt them and take over maintenance to become the new "official" location, please contact me. I have still not got round to obtaining a DAT drive of my own to experiment on, and forthcoming domestic upheavals (first child!) mean that updates may cease altogether.

• 2004-10-18: Torsten Lang's ReadDAT X for OS/X has seen a major update and the english translation has been integrated into his site.
• 2003-10-12: Emails from Andrew Myer (translation of Torsten Lang's page) and Chris Stos-Gale (flashing and using a CTD-8000). (NB. The site has now moved to NTL.)
• 2003-03-26: Firmware for SDT-9000 drives courtesy Arzeno Fabrice, and MacOS X software from Torsten Lang.
  These pages may move soon as I'm changing ISP. To avoid losing them, edit your bookmark and change the URL to:
  http://www.big-bubbles.fluff.org/dat-dds/
  This will always redirect you to the right place.
• 2003-01-26: Yowsa, I've been lax! A link to another firmware page, new software (wdat) and an email about CTD-8000s.
• 2002-05-15: Link to Seagate firmware update utility.
• 2002-04-30: Link to read_dat sent by Andy Loening.
• 2002-02-05: Email from Michael Block re. SDT-9000s.
• 2002-01-09: Finally added a link to Jos Heemskerk's "firmware holy grail" site on the hardware page. Mea culpa for not doing this much sooner.
• 2002-01-03: Added a link to the Wayback Machine to the hardware page, to help in locating the defunct V2.75 firmware page. (Thanks to da2ve.)
• 2001-12-24: Email from Mark Mayhle to report success. Charles Johnston also retracted his earlier disaster report after discovering that the drive had merely changed IDs following flashing.
  On a personal note, I was recently outbid for a Seagate Peregrine on Ebay, so I don't see what anyone else has to be "merry" about. ;-(
• 2001-11-20: Emails from John Anderson and Mark Dove reporting success in flash-upgrading drive firmware. Also an email from Max about firmware affecting SCSI IDs on some drives. Many thanks to everyone who continues to mail me with reports and tips.
• 2001-10-28: Email from Charles Johnston warning about the perils of flash updates.
• 2001-10-10: Email from Jos Heemskerk describing how he flash-updated new firmware.
• 2001-10-04: Note from HP regarding their DDS drives & audio capabilities (thanks to Mike Milewski). Email from Douglas Mandell describing how to burn firmware on to a new EPROM.
• 2001-07-08: Email from Eric Boucher re. 5.ACB firmware. More links on the Resources page.
• 2001-02-23: Added a warning on the drives and firmware page about the lack of audio support in SGI DDS4 drives.
• 2001-01-16: Added a really clear link on the drives and firmware page to Computall's DAT FAQ, which discusses required firmware versions.
• 2000-12-18: Link to another SGI drive vendor on the drives page.
• 2000-07-21: Added a link to VDAT on the software page.
• 2000-05-09: I have split the original page into the above sections and will reorganise further as time allows. I have also added info on secondhand DDS drive resellers and EPROM updating to the hardware section.

Help

If you have any useful links to add, success stories, pointers to DAT drive vendors or a source of second hand SGI drives, please mail me (note the SPAM-retardant address). Please don't feel disgruntled if I don't get back to you immediately; I am extremely busy, and not only with my day job. However, I do appreciate your contributions as they are often extremely helpful to others.

Unless you request otherwise, I will freely quote your name and the content of your email in these pages where it is useful. However, unless you explicitly give permission, I will not publish your email address.