Wafadrive packaging Rotronics Wafadrive shown with two Wafa tapes, a blank 64 kB and software release tape Front and back of a Rotronics 64 kB Wafa tape The Rotronics Wafadrive is a magnetic tape storage peripheral launched in late 1984 for the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

home computer. Each tape is a continuous loop, unlike

cassette tape The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens ...

. It was intended to compete with Sinclair's

ZX Interface 1 ZX may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Kamen Rider ZX (pronounced "Zed-Cross"), the tenth fictional superhero in the "Kamen Rider" franchise * ''Mega Man ZX'', a video game for the Nintendo DS * '' ZX Tunes'', remastered soundtracks of the "M ...

and

ZX Microdrive ZX Microdrive unit The ZX Microdrive is a magnetic-tape data storage system launched in July 1983 by Sinclair Research for its ZX Spectrum home computer. It was proposed as a faster-loading alternative to the cassette and cheaper than a floppy ...

. The Wafadrive comprises two continuous loop stringy floppy tape drives, an

RS-232 In telecommunications, RS-232 or Recommended Standard 232 is a standard originally introduced in 1960 for serial communication transmission of data. It formally defines signals connecting between a ''DTE'' (''data terminal equipment'') such a ...

interface and

Centronics Centronics Data Computer Corporation was an American manufacturer of computer printers, now remembered primarily for the parallel interface that bears its name, the Centronics connector. History Foundations Centronics began as a division o ...

parallel port. The drives can run at two speeds: High speed (for seeking) and low speed (for reading/writing, which was significantly slower than that of Microdrives). The cartridges (or "wafers"), the same as those used in Entrepo stringy floppy devices for other microcomputers, are physically larger than Microdrive cartridges. They were available in three different capacities, nominally 16 kB, 64 kB or 128 kB. The larger sizes had the disadvantage of slower access, due to the longer length of tape. The same drive mechanism, manufactured by BSR, and cartridges were used in at least the following similar devices: * Quick Data Drive (QDD), designed to connect to the cassette port of

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

and

VIC-20 The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the PE ...

home computers. * A&J Micro Drive System 100, for TRS-80 Model 100 and it's clones (Kyotronic KC-85, NEC PC-8201 & PC-8300, Olivetti M10), connected via the RS-232 port.

External links

Rotronics Wafadrive User Manual

meulie.net Rotronics Wafadrive User Manual

* ttp://www.worldofspectrum.org/hardware/feat1.html Review of Waferdrive in ''Your Sinclair'', Issue 5, May 1986 {{Magnetic tape data formats Computer storage devices Home computer peripherals ZX Spectrum