Magnetic tape is a long-standing storage device used for audio, video, and data. It is commonly used for backing up essential business data and can hold electronically encrypted information. Despite newer alternatives, magnetic tape remains popular due to its easy storage and retrieval.
Used as a storage device since the dawn of radio, magnetic tape is an external storage device that can be used to make copies of audio, video, and data. In addition to data storage, this material has been used over the years to make master copies of audio recordings that would be replicated for vinyl, cassette, and more recently compact disc recording formats. Tape is used with the use of a machine referred to as a tape drive. Tape drives carry magnetic tape during the recording process and also store the tape on a reel for easy retrieval.
The look of magnetic tape is similar in all of its incarnations. The tape is a simple strip of plastic that looks very narrow. A thin oxide coating on the plastic allows the tape to hold electronically encrypted data that can range from voice to audio to data information. This makes it an ideal method for backing up customer databases, computer generated details and billing database information.
Many companies back up copies of programs and databases essential to business operations to magnetic tape. Backup recordings are often made at the end of the working day. In case the company operates around the clock, it is not unusual for the backup to start at midnight, thus creating a log of all activity up to and including the current calendar day. Backups help ensure that if your computer’s main memory becomes unusable for some reason, your essential data can be restored with the use of the backup.
While there are a variety of computer storage alternatives available today, magnetic tape continues to be a popular option when it comes to backing up computer memory systems. Reels of tape are relatively easy to store and can be labeled for quick retrieval when needed. Many businesses choose to maintain a bank of copies on magnetic tape in addition to using online data storage and other means to create system backups.
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