IMAGES OF FLOOD DAMAGED TAPES

This tape was salvaged from flood waters.

This is the same tape after treatment.
​All of the recording was recovered.

Professionals will remove tapes from reels and cassettes to do rinsing and other recovery procedures. This process is dangerous for untrained personnel but is necessary to remove river mud from tapes such as the ones shown here.

Disassembly and reassembly requires experience if you want the tape to work when you are done. Consider that, not including the basic shell, door, posts and the tape itself- a small D2 tape has 20 moving parts, half of which are metal springs.

Modern MP and ME tapes can oxidize in water. The discolored sections of this digital tape have permanently lost their magnetic recording due to the oxidation.

Fungus will frequently begin on wet paper and boxes...

...but will soon spread to the tape if the tape remains damp.

Fungus will continue to grow on the tape as long as it has moisture and can do permanent damage.
Fungus removal can be done by professionals but it complicates recovery.

Tape will stick to itself and to the inside of cassettes as it dries. This adhesion can cause serious damage. This tape is stuck to the inside of the cassette door and part of the recording surface has torn off.

If tape is not properly treated and tested, it will tear and rip during playback such as can be seen
with this piece of Beta-SP tape.