And data storage was a lot more expensive to maintain and keep track of. When you have a room full of 9" reel tapes with handwritten labels, it's hard to know

And data storage was a lot more expensive to maintain and keep track of. When you have a room full of 9" reel tapes with handwritten labels, it's hard to know what you're throwing away when you need more space. If you don't have the (again, probably handwritten) book that tells you what's on the tapes, then you probably just don't know what's there.