Comments on: UNIVAC MAGNETIC TAPE http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/05/17/univac-magnetic-tape/ Yesterday's tomorrow, today. Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:57:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Elron’s View from the Edge » Blog Archive » The exciting future of magnetic tape … http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/05/17/univac-magnetic-tape/#comment-47135 Elron’s View from the Edge » Blog Archive » The exciting future of magnetic tape … Fri, 12 Jan 2007 23:48:19 +0000 http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/05/17/univac-magnetic-tape/#comment-47135 [...] Its hard enough for modern computer users to imagine a time when magnetic tape was the average medium of storage, never mind the notion of libraries full of meticulously sorted boxes full of punch cards. This wonderful ad (Courtesy, as always, of Modern Mechanix) for Remington Rand magnetic tape storage, is from a 1953 Scientific American, when magnetic tape storage was the next big thing. While claims like “120 bytes per inch” seem very quaint in today’s world of near-terabyte sized storage on our desktops, and gigabytes in our MP3 players, in 1953 it represented a remarkable amount of data compression when compared to old technology. [...] [...] Its hard enough for modern computer users to imagine a time when magnetic tape was the average medium of storage, never mind the notion of libraries full of meticulously sorted boxes full of punch cards. This wonderful ad (Courtesy, as always, of Modern Mechanix) for Remington Rand magnetic tape storage, is from a 1953 Scientific American, when magnetic tape storage was the next big thing. While claims like “120 bytes per inch” seem very quaint in today’s world of near-terabyte sized storage on our desktops, and gigabytes in our MP3 players, in 1953 it represented a remarkable amount of data compression when compared to old technology. [...]

]]> By: Chuck G http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/05/17/univac-magnetic-tape/#comment-8097 Chuck G Tue, 22 Aug 2006 21:30:34 +0000 http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/05/17/univac-magnetic-tape/#comment-8097 This is probably before the Uniservo tape days. If I remember correctly, these 8" reels were of tape made of a metal alloy and heavy as the dickens. I also seem to recall that the recording was 120 six-bit characters per inch. Still not too shabby--a decade later, polyester tape in 10" reels was recording at 200 or 556 characters per inch. This is probably before the Uniservo tape days. If I remember correctly, these 8″ reels were of tape made of a metal alloy and heavy as the dickens. I also seem to recall that the recording was 120 six-bit characters per inch.

Still not too shabby–a decade later, polyester tape in 10″ reels was recording at 200 or 556 characters per inch.

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