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After 60 Years, Tape Reinserts Itself

Posted by timothy on from the sentience-from-unexpected-source dept.

Lucas123 writes "While magnetic tape is about as boring as technology gets, it's still the cheapest storage medium and among the fastest in sequential reads and writes. And, with the release of LTO-6 with 8TB cartridges around the corner and the relatively new open linear tape file system (LTFS) being embraced by movie and television markets, tape is taking on a new life. It may even climb out of the dusty archives that cheap disk has relegated it to. 'Over the last two years, disk drives have gotten bigger, they've gone from 1TB to 3TB, but they haven't gotten faster. They're more like tape. Meanwhile, tape is going the other direction, it's getting faster,' said Mark Lemmons, CTO of Thought Equity Motion, a cloud storage service for the motion picture industry."

9 of 312 comments (clear)

  1. Sci-Fi is Reel again by Ukab+the+Great · · Score: 5, Funny

    Once again, Reel-To-Reel computers are no longer anachronistic in 60's Sci-Fi shows.

    1. Re:Sci-Fi is Reel again by lightknight · · Score: 4, Funny

      And blow up with explosions, even if there is nothing remotely explosive stored around or within them.

      --
      I am John Hurt.
    2. Re:Sci-Fi is Reel again by Hoi+Polloi · · Score: 5, Funny

      And the tar command will actually refer to tapes again

      --
      It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
  2. Reinserts itself by techstar25 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sure, it reinserts itself, but when it's finished does it take itself out, flip it to the other side, and then reinsert itself again?

    1. Re:Reinserts itself by emurphy42 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Only if you get the Mobius tape, which costs extra.

    2. Re:Reinserts itself by c0lo · · Score: 4, Funny

      Sure, it reinserts itself, but when it's finished does it take itself out, flip it to the other side, and then reinsert itself again?

      :P TFS suggests so:

      Meanwhile, tape is going the other direction

      --
      Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
    3. Re:Reinserts itself by hawk · · Score: 4, Funny

      It do sn't; it ju t has many an oying g ps in it.

      ha k

  3. Re:Tape never died or lost its supremacy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    You have way too much porn.

  4. Re:Tape never died or lost its supremacy by arkane1234 · · Score: 4, Funny

    SLAMMMM

    That's the sound of an asteroid impacting the building holding any backups occurring.

    SMASHHHH

    that's the sound of the building that holds all computer equipment for the business, and it's just been ran into by a steam powered locomotive that oddly wasn't on tracks!

    DERRR

    That's you... for not understanding that there are protective measures already in place in data centers. For things that you just can't stop (the above...), you don't lose sleep over and you have redundant locations. (if it's that important)

    --
    -- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!