Magnetic tape

Old storage medium from 1928.

Operation of magnetic tapes

The magnetic tape was developed in Germany in 1928 by Mr. Pfleumer. It was intended for sound recording. In the 1940s, the first plastic magnetic tape was created.

Magnetic tapes consist of a thin plastic film on which magnetic particles are deposited. The data storage works thanks to the polarity of these particles, which allows to record 0 or 1 (binary language).

The use of these magnetic tapes is very varied. It all depends on the number of tracks, its width, its density, etc. Here are some examples of the uses of magnetic tapes:
  • Audio
  • Cinema
  • TV
  • Radio
  • Backup
Despite significant progress in optical readings (CD/DVD/Blueray) or conventional hard disks, magnetic tapes remain a preferred medium for data backup and archiving because of their very high capacity and good price/quality ratio.