We tend to get a lot of questions similar to the following about copy protection. “Is there any way to disable the SCMS protection after it has already been encoded to a DAT tape? Someone told me there is a wire or something to cut that will disable it on my machine.”
Once SCMS has been enabled on a DAT tape it is impossible to change it. You can, however, make a new DAT from an existing tape and remove it in the process. Some DAT machines will ignore SCMS flags and therefore can make new DAT tapes that can have the copy inhibit flag removed (or at least ignored). The Panasonic SV-3700 and SV-3800 are two that work this way (there are many more). The method is to record from your SCMS enabled machine and tape onto another DAT machine that removes the SCMS flag. Doing this dub digitally is the preferred method, but if you can’t find a machine that will let you define SCMS status then you’ll have to do an analog dub. Another solution is to go to and from some other machine like an ADAT or a DAW.
The original DA-30 was the only machine that could have its SCMS disabled by cutting a wire. After that most “pro” machines have provided an easy way for the user to determine the SCMS status of each tape recorded.