tape drive
Sign in to saveAlso known as tape streamer, tape storage, tape archive, magnetic tape drive
data storage device that reads and writes data on a magnetic tape
~7 min read
Encyclopedic overview
DDS tape drive (bottom). Above, from left to right: DDS-4 tape (20 GB), 112m Data8 tape (2.5 GB), QIC DC-6250 tape (250 MB), and a 3.5" floppy disk (1.44 MB).
A tape drive is a data storage device that reads and writes data on a magnetic tape. Magnetic-tape data storage is typically used for offline, archival data storage. Tape media generally has a favorable unit cost and long archival stability.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “tape drive” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.