IBM Magnetic Tape Storage Capabilities Goes Large...

Magnetic tape data storage was nothing new even in the '80s when IBM unveiled it's latest mainframe solution, the 3090. Magnetic tape was first used for data storage in 1951 on the Univac-1. It has come a long way in nearly 60 years. For example, the Univac-1 8-track magnetic tape data reel could store data at a density of 128 characters (or bytes) per inch. Assuming a 1,200 foot reel, a 1951 tape yielded a storage capacity of 1,843,200 bytes. That's not even enough to store a single top forty song with reasonably good sound quality in mp3 format.

Today's IBM magnetic tape data cartridges are capable of archiving over half a trillion bytes of information, or roughly enough capacity to store all of the books in the central library of a decent sized city.

Magnetic tape data storage is still in wide use. "But", you may wonder, "with large hard disk capacities and optical drives, why continue with magnetic tape data storage at all?" Because it makes economic sense, especially if these vast quantities of digital information can be stored in so small a package as the IBM TLO Generation 4 cartridges common today. Magnetic tape data storage is, gigabyte for gigabyte, currently anywhere from a fifth to a tenth as expensive hard disk drive storage, depending on the amount of information stored. It also has ecological benefits, as tape storage is far cheaper in terms of energy use as hard drive storage. As data density increases, costs go down.

However, IBM has just upped the ante by 44 times as compared to even their own latest generation tape cartridge. They have announced a new magnetic tape data storage prototype, developed in conjunction with Fuji Film, which is capable of storing 35 terabytes (that's 35 trillion Bytes) of information on a single tape. Do you like to read? That amount of storage is enough to store the books necessary to fill 248 miles of bookshelves. Bring your library card, a sack lunch, and maybe your passport, too - that's just a little bit longer than the entire nation of Switzerland.

The increase in cheap, reliable data storage becomes crucial when you consider that information is being stored digitally in exponentially larger volumes. The trend will continue. One of the largest single blocks of digital information is in the medical field, where access to information is widely shared among physicians the world over. Added to that is the storage of an increasing number of web sites, email accounts, student assignments and the transfer of paper archives such as genealogical records which continues apace. Without solutions to the emerging data storage problem, we would find ourselves unable to feed the growing digital appetite of the world. IBM's continued advancement of the field of magnetic tape data storage is not, therefore, simply a case of creative anachronism.


Source:
http://www.new-technology-world.com/connect/index.php?do=/Admin/blog/ibm-magnetic-tape-storage-capabilities-goes-large/