History
| Year | Manufacturer | Model | Capacity | Advancements |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | Remington Rand | UNISERVO | 224 kB | First computer tape drive |
| 1952 | IBM | 726 | Use of plastic tape (cellulose acetate); 7-track tape recording 6-bit bytes | |
| 1958 | IBM | 729 | Separate read/write heads providing transparent read-after-write verification. As of January 2009, the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California has working IBM 729 tape drives attached to its working IBM 1401 system. | |
| 1964 | IBM | 2400 | 9-track tape that could store every 8-bit byte plus a parity bit. | |
| 1970's | IBM | 3400 | Auto-loading tape reels and drives, avoiding manual tape threading; Group code recording for error recovery at 6250 bit-per-inch density | |
| 1972 | 3M | QIC-11 | 20 MB | Quarter-inch cartridge tape cassette (with two reels) |
| 1974 | IBM | 3850 | Tape cartridge (with single reel)
First tape library with robotic access |
|
| 1978 | Commodore International | Commodore Datasette | 1978 kB | Use of standard audio cassettes |
| 1980 | Cipher | (F880?) | RAM buffer to mask start-stop delays | |
| 1984 | IBM | 3480 | Internal takeup reel with automatic tape takeup mechanism.
Thin-film magnetoresistive (MR) head. |
|
| 1984 | DEC | TK50 | 94 MB | Digital Linear Tape (DLT) |
| 1986 | IBM | 3480 | Hardware data compression (IDRC algorithm) | |
| 1987 | Exabyte/Sony | EXB-8200 | 2.4 GB | First helical digital tape drive.
Elimination of the capstan and pinch-roller system. |
| 1993 | DEC | Tx87 | Tape directory (database with first tapemark nr on each serpentine pass). | |
| 1995 | IBM | 3570 | Head assembly that follows pre-recorded tape servo tracks (Time Based Servoing or TBS)
Tape on unload rewound to the midpoint — halving access time (requires two-reel cassette, resulting in lesser capacity) |
|
| 1996 | HP | DDS3 | 12 GB | Partial Response Maximum Likelihood (PRML) reading method — no fixed thresholds |
| 1997 | IBM | VTS | Virtual tape — disk cache that emulates tape drive | |
| 1999 | Exabyte | Mammoth-2 | 60 GB | The small cloth-covered wheel cleaning tape heads. Inactive burnishing heads to prep the tape and deflect any debris or excess lubricant. Section of cleaning material at the beginning of each data tape. |
| 1999 | HP | DDS4 | 20 GB | Holds two-thirds more data than a DDS3 tape. (Note: DDS-4 is also known as DAT 40.) |
| 2000 | Quantum | Super DLT | 110 GB | optical servo allows more precise positioning of the heads relative to the tape. |
| 2003 | IBM | 3592 | Virtual backhitch | |
| 2003 | Sony | SAIT-1 | 500 GB | Single-reel cartridge for helical recording |
| 2006 | StorageTek | T10000 | Multiple head assemblies and servos per drive | |
| 2006 | IBM | 3592 | Encryption capability integrated into the drive | |
| 2008 | IBM | TS1130 | GMR heads in a linear tape drive | |
| 2010 | IBM | TS2250 LTO Gen5 | Linear Tape File System (LTFS), which allows accessing files on tape in the same way as on a disk filesystem | |
| 2011 | Oracle | T10000C | 500 - 5000 GB | ? |
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