If you have a tape with text like the following in the first 128 bytes:
   STORE/RESTORE-HP/3000.MPEXL  B5152AA C 75.08.31/10/030000
or
   STORE/RESTORE-HP/3000.MPEXL  B5152AA C 60 25 06/18/020000
or
   STORE/RESTORE-HP/3000
then you have a backup tape ("STORE tape") from an HP 3000, running the MPE/iX (or MPE XL) operating system.

(If the first 32 bytes are "STORE/RESTORE LABEL-HP/3000.VIIB", then the tape is a Classic HP 3000 STORE tape, and that is discussed here.)

Allegro Consultants, Inc., offers data recovery for MPE/iX STORE tapes, including DDS data recovery, DAT data recovery, and DLT data recovery, as well as other forms of tape media.

Here's a dump of the first record of a typical STORE tape.
Note that a few of the fields will change from tape to tape, but that the first 28 (decimal) bytes are constant:

 Hex                                  ASCII
 -------- -------- -------- --------  ----------------
 53544f52 452f5245 53544f52 452d4850  STORE/RESTORE-HP
 2f333030 302e4d50 45584c20 20031000  /3000.MPEXL  ...
 00010000 0d041800 d624004a 00300080  .........$.J.0..
 000002f0 000000d0 00008000 01030000  ................
 00000000 00000000 0000ffdc 00000080  ................
 00020001 00000000 00000000 00423531  .............B51
 35324141 20002043 00373500 30380033  52AA . C.75.08.3
 312f3130 2f303330 30303000 00000004  1/10/030000.....

Another example, slightly older:
 Hex                                  ASCII
 -------- -------- -------- --------  ----------------
 53544f52 452f5245 53544f52 452d4850  STORE/RESTORE-HP
 2f333030 302e4d50 45584c20 20031000  /3000.MPEXL  ...
 00010000 0e2c2603 d258004a 00300080  .....,&..X.J.0..
 000009d8 000000e8 00008000 01030000  ................
 00000000 00000000 0000ffdc 00000080  ................
 00020001 00000000 00000000 00423531  .............B51
 35324141 20002043 00363000 32350030  52AA . C.60.25.0
 362f3138 2f303230 30303000 0000000e  6/18/020000.....

Allegro Consultants, Inc. has tools and products to:

Please email info@allegro.com for information.