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Magnetic Tape Disk and DriveMagnetic Tape Disk and Drive - Magnetic Tape - Data Storage - Tape Drives - Data Backup - Tape Backup - Tape Library - Tapes - Magnetic - Computer Hardware StorageMagnetic Tape Magnetic tape is the most popular and oldest storage medium used to store large amount of data and instructions permanently. The magnetic tape is a plastic ribbon with width 0.25 inch to 1 inch and one side coated with magnetic recording material (ferrous-oxide or iron-oxide), which can be magnetized. Data is stored on the tape in the form of magnetic field, i.e. magnetized and non-magnetized spots representing l’s and 0’s respectively. Like magnetic disk, magnetic tape is also formatted before to store data on it. The tape is divided into vertical columns called frames and each frame is further divided into horizontal rows called tracks (or channels). Each frame represents one character and each track of frame stores one bit for the code of character. Typically, a frame is divided into 9 tracks. The first 8 tracks are used for recording the code of specific character and ninth track is used for recording the parity bit or check bit. The parity bit is used to detect errors during reading or writing data on the tape. Like sound recording tape, the data and instructions on the magnetic tape can be recorded and erased again and again. The amount of data that can be stored on a tape depends on its length, its type and density. Magnetic tape media is especially used for backing up of data. The storage capacity of tape is up to 100GB and offers an inexpensive way to store a lot of data on a single cassette. Magnetic Tape Drive Magnetic tape drive is a device that writes/reads data to and from a magnetic tape. The write head encodes the magnetic signals on the tape as it moves across the write head. Similarly, the read head reads the stored data from tape and transferred it into the RAM. The information is stored on the tape, one after the other, i.e. in sequential order. It means that data and instructions are stored and read in sequential order. When you want to access a specific data on tape, the drive has to scan all the data on the tape up to the data you want. Therefore, it is a slow process to access data. The computer also takes more time to load program instructions from tape into the RAM. See Also or Related Articles:
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