This is a scan of the 3/4 inch wide DECtape tape. The top tape is the back Mylar side of the tape. The bottom tape is the iron oxide coating side. You can see a scratch in the coating at the bottom. This is common near the end of the tape due to the handling during mounting. This area is not used for storing data. The first portion of the tape is not used at all, the next portion only had a special leader code, then come the actual data blocks where they should be safe from damage.
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