The conditions under which tapes are stored are a significant factor, which affects deterioration. Manufacturers recommend that tapes should be stored at a temperature of about 20 degrees Centigrade and relative humidity of 50%. In the oil exploration industry tapes are often recorded and transported, and sometimes stored, in conditions that are far from this optimum.

Stiction is process where due to age/heat/humidity/improper storage the binder that holds the "data" (stored on the magnetic oxide) to the "tape" break down in the form of erratic levels of lubrication on the tape surface, leaving behind a sticky mess that literally, in the worst cases, glues the tape to itself, and ultimately the tape head.

The first problem facing a company whose data archive may have stiction problems is to identify the particular tapes where the problems have occurred. A data audit of a statistically representative sample of the archive is a reliable and relatively cheap method of achieving this.
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