IBM’s New Technology Puts A Staggering 330TB Of Data Into One Small Cartridge

Ok, it’s not exactly new technology – it’s magnetic tape drive storage so it’s pretty old – but IBM has been working on improving it even though modern computers have moved on to faster and more versatile storage technologies.

And the best part is – they managed to advance tape drive storage so radically, that they are now able to store up to 330TB of information onto a tiny cartridge.

Let’s see how.

It’s All About Density

Folks over at IBM just announced they reached a new record in data storage density: 201 gigabits per square inch.

This basically means that this magnetic tape cane store a whopping 330TB of uncompressed information on just one small tape drive cartridge.

All thanks to developing several new technologies.

As ExtremeTech reports:

“Older versions of IBM’s magnetic tape used a thin film of barium ferrite particles applied to the surface like paint. ‘Sputtered tape’ uses several layers of thin metal film that are applied using a new vacuum technology. A layer of lubricant is also applied to the reading surface of the tape to keep the tape in good working order as it’s run through the drive. The higher density arrangement of magnetic nanoparticles will, of course, require new drive technology to read.”

IBM and Sony joined forces to create this new magnetic tape design after the two companies have been working on this interesting technology for several years.

Watch the video below:

The only downside of the tape drive cartridge compact design is that, although you can fit a lot more data onto these reels of magnetic tape, they’re far more delicate than hard drives and are considerably slower.

This, however, makes this magnetic tape storage design perfect for long-term data archival.