Tape Drives

ALSO CALLED: Magnetic Tape Drives, Drives
DEFINITION: A tape drive is a device that stores computer data on magnetic tape, especially for backup and archiving purposes. Like an ordinary tape recorder, a tape drive records data on a loop of flexible celluloid-like material that can be read and also erased. Tape drives work either by using a traditional helical scan where the recording and playback heads touch the tape, or linear tape technology, where  … 
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TAPE DRIVES DEFINITION (continued): …  the heads never actually touch the tape. Drives can be rewinding, where the device issues a rewind command at the end of a session, or non-rewinding. Rewinding devices are most commonly used when a tape is to be unmounted at the end of a session after batch processing of large amounts of data (payroll is the classic example). Non-rewinding devices are useful for incremental backups and other applications where new files are added to the end of the previous session's files. A benefit of a tape drive backup is that tapes have a large capacity for storing data and are very economical when compared … 
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