Could today's technology extract OG Uncontrolled Substances from disc/drives damaged in the floods?!

[Whips-n-Chains]

I know they supposedly took the damaged drives from the floods containing the OG version of Uncontrolled Substances to a company that used NASA technology or whatever, but that had to be in 94-96...

Could technology today be used to extract at least something from the discs/drives?

If so, why not try? I'm sure it costs money but fans would easily help fund it if it's possible.

If I'm Deck, I'd have never tossed those materials in hopes some day my work could be revived.

Yea I know they're probably over it and all that, but I'd rather hear whatever's lost in those floods or in RZA's vaults over than anything dropping today, including their current music.

[mrvaughn]

I was just thinking about this last week.

[3rdEyeVizion]

Deck was easily the dopest MC out of the Clan back then. There’s no doubt in my mind he would’ve had the most hailed album even above OB4CL, Ironman and LS.

[ForensikZ]

No. I dont think so

they were watwr damaged and covered in literal shit. The tech was too outdated back then to survive til now to make it work

​deck literally took it to top of the line scientists in manhattan already. Then again that was 30 years ago. But i doubt it.

[Jet Set]

No. I dont think so

they were watwr damaged and covered in literal shit. The tech was too outdated back then to survive til now to make it work

​deck literally took it to top of the line scientists in manhattan already. Then again that was 30 years ago. But i doubt it.

It sort of depends on the source material. You already said Deck tried some stuff 30 years ago. Now take floppy disks or cd's from 30 years ago, those have been severly hit by the deterioration of the medium itself, next to them being subject to a flood. So the question becomes if there actually still is anything that could be saved.

Technology wise we have come a long way, as we can see with AI. Take for example the news this year of people deciphering Herculaneum scrolls. These scrolls were covered after the explosion at Pompeii. They could not be unravelled, so the made a high resolution CT scan of the various scrolls. Now they have used AI to decipher said scans.
Theoretically you could argue that one could do a similar scan of the sources for the album, and use AI to clean up an decipher the stuff. Would be on par with those Japanese record players that work with a laser instead of a needle.

What remains unclear to me, is what was exactly lost. Was it 6 tracks, various beats. Or like ODB, a complete (say 12 track) album on reels that needed to be mixed.

[soob]

I don't believe it could work. It was flooded and it's highly damaging plus it's been 30 years so even if Deck still has them, they may be too old to be recovered. Maybe some of it would be recoverable but if anyone thinks that he could get the whole album back then I'll simply say no.

[KoKane]

I know they supposedly took the damaged drives from the floods containing the OG version of Uncontrolled Substances to a company that used NASA technology or whatever, but that had to be in 94-96...

Could technology today be used to extract at least something from the discs/drives?

If so, why not try? I'm sure it costs money but fans would easily help fund it if it's possible.

If I'm Deck, I'd have never tossed those materials in hopes some day my work could be revived.

Yea I know they're probably over it and all that, but I'd rather hear whatever's lost in those floods or in RZA's vaults over than anything dropping today, including their current music.

Maybe. Give it a try.

Really though, what useful thing is anyone here supposed to contribute to that? We don't have the tape, we don't have the tech, we don't have the dough.

But to indulge you, here's what Google Gemini said after pressing it for a little while:

Given the historical significance of the Inspectah Deck tape, [...] let's dive into some speculative, cutting-edge technologies that could potentially recover data from severely damaged electromagnetic storage like the DAT tape:

Nano-scale Imaging and Manipulation:
Concept: Imagine microscopic robots or devices capable of scanning the tape's surface at the atomic level. They could identify and isolate individual magnetic particles, essentially reconstructing the data bit by bit.
Challenges: This would require incredibly precise manipulation on a microscopic scale, along with advanced algorithms to interpret the recovered data.

Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI):
Concept: MRI technology is already used to visualize internal structures in the human body. Adapted for data recovery, a high-resolution MRI could potentially "read" the magnetic patterns on a damaged tape without physical contact.
Challenges: The magnetic fields in a DAT tape are far weaker than those in the human body, requiring significantly more sensitive MRI technology.

Quantum Computing and Machine Learning:
Concept: Quantum computers could potentially leverage their immense processing power to analyze damaged data patterns and reconstruct the original information. Machine learning algorithms could be trained on vast datasets of degraded data to improve recovery accuracy.
Challenges: Quantum computing is still in its early stages, and developing algorithms specifically for data recovery would be a major undertaking.

Terahertz Spectroscopy:
Concept: Terahertz radiation can penetrate certain materials and reveal their internal structures. By analyzing the terahertz spectrum of a damaged tape, scientists could potentially glean information about the underlying magnetic patterns.
Challenges: Terahertz technology is still evolving, and its application to data recovery would require significant research and development.

Evolution of the Field:
Yes, the field of data recovery has evolved significantly in the last 25 years. Advancements in nanotechnology, microscopy, imaging, and computing have opened up new possibilities for recovering data from damaged media. While some of the technologies mentioned above are still speculative, the progress made in recent years suggests that even seemingly unrecoverable data might one day be salvaged.

Remember, these are just speculations based on current trends in technology. It's impossible to predict with certainty what the future holds for data recovery, but it's exciting to imagine the possibilities!