Backup Terms and Technologies

Advanced Intelligent Tape (AIT): An 8mm magnetic tape developed by Sony that uses the company's Memory in Cassette (MIC) architecture. The MIC consists of a memory chip that stores the system's log and other user-definable information. AIT can store up to 65GB with data transfer rates up to 7.8MBps (compressed).

4mm digital audio tape (DAT) digital data storage (DDS) cartridge: A magnetic tape that uses a sequential access and storage scheme to record data. DAT cartridges can hold from 2GB to 24GB of data (with compression). DAT can support data transfer rates of up to 2MBps. DAT cartridges come in three recording formats: DDS, DDS-2, and DDS-3. DDS can store up to 4GB with a data transfer rate of 366KBps, and DDS-2 can store up to 8GB with a data transfer rate of 1MBps. DDS-3 can store up to 24GB with a data transfer rate of 2MBps.

8mm cartridge: A sequential-access magnetic tape that uses the same recording technology as VCR tapes. It has a relatively high storage capacity (up to 5GB) but requires an expensive drive and has a relatively slow data transfer rate.

Digital linear tape (DLT) cartridge: A magnetic tape that uses a linear recording scheme to record data. DLT cartridges can hold from 15GB to 40GB of data and support data transfer rates up to 5MBps. DLT cartridges come in two recording formats: DLT-3 and DLT-4.

Magneto-optical (MO) storage: A type of disk drive that combines magnetic disk technologies with CD-ROM technologies. You can read and write to MO disks, and they are removable. MO disks can store more than 200MB; you can access them faster than floppy disks or CD-ROM disks.

Quarter-inch cartridge (QIC): A common storage tape that comes in two formats: full-size (DC 6000) and minicartridge (DC 2000). The full-size tapes are relatively inexpensive and support fast data transfer rates. The minicartridges are even less expensive, but they have slower transfer rates. QIC tapes can store up to 5GB. QIC drives use several standards, such as QIC-117, to record data. These standards are sometimes referred to as floppy tape standards because they are designed to use a PC's existing floppy disk drive controller instead of a customized controller.