Magnetic Tapes and Sheets

Sony D1D

Sony's D1D was a professional digital data tape format introduced in 1990. It used a ¾-inch-wide magnetic tape cartridge and was designed for large-scale computer data storage and backup, remaining in use in specialised applications for more than two decades. Here displayed SD1-1300LA cassete (larger one) contains 100 GB of data on 1300 meters of tape.

IBM MT/ST Cartridge Tape

The IBM MT/ST was introduced in 1964 as the world's first electric word processor. Its special magnetic tape cartridges could store about 25 KB of text — roughly 20 average-sized letters — and used a rather unusual single-reel design in which the tape was pulled into a storage bin inside the machine during operation.

CERN LHC Storage Tape

Magnetic tape remains an important part of CERN's data infrastructure. The LHC produces enormous quantities of scientific data, and tape is still used for long-term archival storage because it offers high capacity, low energy consumption and excellent long-term reliability.

Travan Minicartridge

Travan was a family of high-capacity magnetic tape cartridges developed by 3M in the 1990s for computer backup. Later versions increased the capacity from hundreds of megabytes to tens of gigabytes while keeping the compact cartridge concept.

QIC-24 Data Cartridge

QIC-24 was one of the early standards in the Quarter-Inch Cartridge family of computer backup media. These small cartridges stored considerably more data than floppy disks and became a common way of backing up personal computers before recordable optical media took over.

Data Mini-Cartridges (QIC-Based)

QIC minicartridges were compact alternatives to the larger quarter-inch tape cartridges used in professional backup systems. Formats such as QIC-40 and QIC-80 were designed specifically for personal computers and could store tens or hundreds of megabytes on a cartridge small enough to fit into a 3.5-inch drive bay.

Digital Data Storage

DDS transformed the 4 mm Digital Audio Tape technology into a successful computer backup format. Using the same helical-scan principle as DAT audio recorders, DDS evolved from roughly 1–2 GB in its early generations to tens of gigabytes in later versions.

Stringy Floppy

"Stringy Floppy" was a generic nickname for small endless-loop magnetic tape systems used as inexpensive alternatives to floppy disks. The idea was particularly attractive for home computers because a tiny cartridge could provide random-access-like data storage without the cost of a conventional disk drive.

Microdrive for ZX Sinclair

Sinclair's ZX Microdrive used a tiny 1.9 mm-wide endless loop of magnetic tape instead of a rotating disk. Introduced in 1983 for the ZX Spectrum, each cartridge could store around 85 KB and the entire five-metre tape loop passed through the drive in only about eight seconds.

Wafa Tape for Rotronics Wafadrive

The Rotronics Wafadrive was launched in 1984 as a competitor to Sinclair's Microdrive. Its Wafa cartridges also used a continuous loop of magnetic tape, with blank versions offering around 64 KB of storage — a wonderfully strange example of how many different "floppy alternatives" existed for the ZX Spectrum.

Action Max VHS

The Action Max turned an ordinary VHS cassette into a video-game medium. Released in 1987, its games consisted of VHS video played through a separate VCR while a light gun detected shots on the screen — making it one of the strangest uses ever found for a standard magnetic video tape.

Magnetkonto

Magnetkonto was an unusual magnetic storage medium designed for specialised accounting and data-processing applications. Instead of a conventional reel or cartridge, it used a magnetic recording surface in a compact form, making it an interesting example of the many short-lived magnetic data formats developed before modern disk and tape standards became dominant.

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