• ozymandias117@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    57
    ·
    10 months ago

    Tape will be around until something better for archival purposes comes around

    It lasts significantly longer sitting on the shelf than HDD or SSD by far

    I doubt it’s being used for anything other than backups and archiving though

    • monotremata@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      36
      ·
      10 months ago

      It’s also used for sending huge amounts of data long distances. “Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway.” That’s usually attributed to Andrew S. Tanenbaum, but wikipedia follows that with “other alleged speakers include…” so take that with a grain of salt. They do note that the first problem in his book on computer networks asks students to calculate the throughput of a Saint Bernard carrying floppy disks.