I've got a Fujitsu M2488e tape drive that seems to be holding some old data, and I want to access it using my vintage Windows 7 machine. This setup has an Adaptec SCSI card that's properly installed, but I'm struggling to find the right drivers to make everything work. I've searched online but came across only outdated pages and no actual driver downloads. Fujitsu's support site isn't much help either. I even asked ChatGPT for suggestions, and it mentioned trying Linux and looking for OEM drivers for Windows. Any advice from those who've dealt with similar ancient hardware?
4 Answers
Drivers for tape drives can be tricky because they often come bundled with backup software. I'd recommend starting with Backup Exec if you can find an old version. It's what most people used back then to manage tape backups.
If you really want to use Windows, make sure to check if the drivers are installed properly in Device Manager. Older tape drives sometimes show up differently, and you might need specific software to communicate with it. Just make sure to handle everything carefully!
Tape drives usually don’t show in Disk Management until they're recognized by the right software, so don't get discouraged!
You might want to give DriverGuide a shot, although I've had mixed experiences with it. They could have something on the Fujitsu M2488e that might help you out. Here's a link to check: [DriverGuide Link]
You might have more luck using Linux with your SCSI card. There's usually no special driver needed for the tape drive. Check out commands like 'mt' and 'dd' for reading data. If you're dealing with a mainframe tape, you might need to handle EBCDIC encoding too. It's a bit of a learning curve, but totally doable!
That sounds promising! I didn't know Linux supported that kind of hardware so well.
Yeah, I remember using Backup Exec back in the day for tapes. Good luck!