Tape drive

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DDS tape drive. Above, from right hand side: microdisk 3.5", DC tape (250 MB, 6 mm, 1020 ft), DL tape (8 mm, 367 ft), DDS 4 tape (20 GB uncompressed, 4 mm, 492 ft)

A tape drive, also known as a streamer, is a peripheral device that reads and writes data stored on a magnetic tape or a punched tape. It is typically used for archival storage of data stored on hard drives. Tape drives are considered sequential-access, and must read all preceding data to read any one particular piece of data. They are not necessarily the fastest form of data system, reaching only around 20 Mbit/s, but are long lasting and cost efficient. Tape drives can be connected with parallel port, IDE, or SCSI.

Tapes and drives come in various formats. These formats include:

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References

This article was originally based on material from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, which is licensed under the GFDL.

Categories: Computer hardware stubs | Computer storage devices