The TX-2 Tape System was 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- ...

technology from the late 1950s.R. L. Best and T. C. Stockerbrand, A Computer-Integrated Rapid Access Magnetic Tape System with Fixed Address
Proceedings of the Western Joint Computer Conference: Contrasts in Computers
May 6-8, 1958; pages 42-46. It is the direct ancestor of

LINCtape DECtape, originally called Microtape, is a magnetic tape data storage medium used with many Digital Equipment Corporation computers, including the PDP-6, PDP-8, LINC-8, PDP-9, PDP-10, PDP-11, PDP-12, and the PDP-15. On DEC's 32-bit systems, OpenVM ...

, used on the LINC laboratory computer. The tape transports used in the system were made as simple and fool-proof as possible, consisting of a read-write head assembly, two reel drive motors, and a tape guide. The tape system used 10 tracks across a tape on reels. Maximum reel speed was 920 inches per second (23.4 metres per second). The system used digital speed control based on a clock track on the tape. The 10-track head assembly contains five channels; three information, one timing, and one block mark. Each channel consists of two redundantly paired tracks, and the paired tracks are nonadjacent to minimize the effect of contamination on the tape surface. This redundant track scheme was previously used on the MIT

Whirlwind A whirlwind is a weather phenomenon in which a vortex of wind (a vertically oriented rotating column of air) forms due to instabilities and turbulence created by heating and flow (current) gradients. Whirlwinds occur all over the world and i ...

tape system.

References

{{Magnetic_tape_data_formats Tape-based computer storage Computer-related introductions in 1958