The 8 mm backup format is a
magnetic tape data storage
Magnetic-tape data storage is a system for storing digital information on magnetic tape using digital recording.
Tape was an important medium for primary data storage in early computers, typically using large open reels of 7-track, later 9- ...
format used in
computer systems, pioneered by
Exabyte Corporation
Exabyte Corporation was a manufacturer of magnetic tape data storage products headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Exabyte Corp. is now defunct, but the company's technology is sold by Tandberg Data under both brand names. Prior ...
. It is also known as Data8, often abbreviated to D8 and is written as D-Eight on some Sony branded media. Such systems can back up up to 60 GB of data depending on configuration. The cassettes have the same dimensions and construction as the cassettes used in
8 mm video format recorders and
camcorders
A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-swap ...
.
Until the advent of
AIT
An ait (, like ''eight'') or eyot () is a small island. It is especially used to refer to river islands found on the River Thames and its tributaries in England.
Aits are typically formed by the deposit of sediment in the water, which accumu ...
, Exabyte were the sole vendor of 8 mm format tape drives. The company was formed with the aim of taking the 8 mm video format and making it suitable for data storage. They did so by building a reliable mechanism and data format that used the common 8 mm
helical scan
Helical scan is a method of recording high-frequency signals on magnetic tape. It is used in open-reel video tape recorders, video cassette recorders, digital audio tape recorders, and some computer tape drives.
History
Earl E Masterson fro ...
video tape technology that was available then.
Exabyte's first 8 mm tape drive was made available in 1987. This was followed up with their Mammoth tape drive in 1996, and the Mammoth-2 (M2) in 1999.
Exabyte's drive mechanisms were frequently rebranded and integrated into
UNIX
Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, an ...
systems.
Generations
''NOTE: The
AIT
An ait (, like ''eight'') or eyot () is a small island. It is especially used to refer to river islands found on the River Thames and its tributaries in England.
Aits are typically formed by the deposit of sediment in the water, which accumu ...
and
VXA
VXA is a tape backup format originally created by Ecrix and now owned by Tandberg Data. After the merger between Ecrix and Exabyte on 17 November 2001, VXA was produced by Exabyte Corporation. On November 20, 2006, Exabyte was purchased by Tandber ...
formats and some other less common formats also use 8 mm wide tape, but are completely incompatible.''
Compatibility between tapes and drives and native capacities (GB)
Legend:
* RO - The tape drive can read this tape, but not write. (Read Only)
* Y - The tape drive can read and write this tape, but size is not known.
* Numbered entries indicate the native storage capacity (in GB) for this combination of tape and drive.
Exabyte 8 mm
These drives use
metal particle (MP) tape.
* 1987—EXB-8200
** Full-Height form factor
** 246 kB/s data transfer rate
** EXB-8200SX model features high-speed search
** EXB-8205: Up to 5.0 GB on one 112 m data cartridge (assuming 2:1 compression ratio)
** EXB-8205XL: Up to 7.0 GB on one 112 m data cartridge (assuming 2:1 compression ratio)
* 1990—EXB-8500
** Full-Height form factor
** 500 kB/s data transfer rate
** EXB-8500c model features hardware data compression
* 1992—EXB-8505
** Half-Height form factor
** 500 kB/s data transfer rate (uncompressed) / 1.0 MB/s data transfer rate (assuming a 2:1 compression ratio)
** Up to 10.0 GB on one 112 m data cartridge (assuming 2:1 compression ratio)
* 1994—EXB-8505XL
** Half-Height form factor
** 500 kB/s data transfer rate (uncompressed) / 1.0 MB/s data transfer rate (assuming a 2:1 compression ratio)
** Up to 14.0 GB on one 160 m XL data cartridge (assuming 2:1 compression ratio)
* 1995—EXB-8700
** Tabletop (top-loading) form factor
** 8700 model included generic backup software
** 8700LT model included no software
** 8700SW included Cheyenne backup software
* 1998—Eliant 820
** Half-Height form factor
Mammoth
These drives use Advanced Metal Evaporated (AME) tape, but could also read (but not write) MP tapes.
* 1996—EXB-8900 Mammoth
** 3 MB/s data transfer rate
** LCD on drive displayed drive status
* 1999—Mammoth-LT
** No LCD
Mammoth-2 (M2)
These drives used Advanced Metal Evaporated (AME) tape with a 2 m integrated cleaning tape header called ''Smart Clean''.
* 1999—Mammoth-2
** 12 MB/s data transfer rate
** 4.6 cm/s tape speed during normal read/write operations
** 1.6 m/s tape speed during search and rewind operations
** 17 s load time, from insertion to ready
** ALDC hardware data compression, 1 kB compression buffer
See also
*
Digital Data Storage
External links
A brief history of tape according to ExabyteIdentifying MammothTape and 8 mm tape drivesMammoth-2 Product SpecificationTechnical details for several Data8 products
Standards
''ISO/IEC 11319:1991'' First specification for 8 mm tape data storage
ECMA-169''ISO/IEC 12246:1993'', Specification of DA-1 (dual azimuth extension)
ECMA-249''ISO/IEC 15757'', Specification of DA-2 (MammothTape)
ECMA-293''ISO/IEC 18836'', Specification of MammothTape-2
{{Magnetic_tape_data_formats
Computer storage tape media