I have a extremely good chance at getting some HP 7974 tape drives and uninterrupted power supply. The things are as big as refrigerators and heavy. I have looked high and low to find out what is inside to see if it is worth scraping. 1.5 hour drive to pick up one way and trailer rental. Does anyone know a way to find out what is inside items before tearing them apart?
I also have a bunch of other old stuff from this same place; soroc tech iq140, southwest microwave 902tbm, FRED forensic recovery system.

Sweet. That’s the movie star unit. One was seen in T2 and again in the background in storage near the end of T3 when the SkyNet started to come online. Same room as the T-80 and T-100s.

It’s not a tape drive, by accurate definition, but a reel to reel system. (R2R).

Based on related devices I’ve come across:
There’s a large set of presswood board components. A large motor. Power distribution. Dozens or more pounds of wire. Relays. Switches.
If you’ve ever been, or seen, inside a 70s era compact cassette player it’s generally the same thing. Only much much larger.
These also have the minicomputer/mainframe interface boards and logic controllers as well. There’s some value in the weight.

In reality it’s a large reel tape recorder with a Data General like minicomputer in a giant box.

I found a pair of photos at hpmuseum.net. But I’m not sure the bottom photo is the same model. Looks like the newer controller interface. But I could be wrong.

I’ve posted a photo for the ibm 729 which is the same generation of tape recorder tech. Credit to Wikipedia.

You can find many related manuals at bitsavers.org. Just target that 1967-1972 range.

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http://hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?hw=271

The write up looks to have missed the Terminator III appearance.

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