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Not sure about audio tapes, but video tapes could hold a lot of data... there was even a D-VHS standard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-VHS https://en.wikiped

Not sure about audio tapes, but video tapes could hold a lot of data... there was even a D-VHS standard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-VHS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-VHS - 50 gigs also some standards worked with normal tapes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUS0Zv2APjU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUS0Zv2APjU (1.5gig)

legohead 5y ago
my older brother had a weekend job where he would go and change backup tapes for some company on the weekends. he'd bring his Amiga and we'd play video games while we waited for the tapes to do their thing. I was pretty young so I don't remember the details, but they had to rewind/seek/? which took a long time.
- danachow 5y ago
  Those were most likely backup tapes made specifically for data like DLT or LTO, Travan, etc. DAT and 8mm (Data8) could legitimately be used for backup. VHS was never a widespread backup medium especially when affordable more reliable options were readily available in the 90s - DVHS itself flopped and backup onto consumer VHS was always a gimmick. Tape is still widely used for backup, it’s not quite dead.
  - jasomill 5y ago
    While never popular, Metrum/MountainGate VHS drives and libraries saw significant use by at least a few large customers for a number of years, so were presumably more than a gimmick (source: personal tech support experience). Note that, in spite of the recording media (S-VHS, IIRC, not D-VHS) used, these drives were rugged, expensive, rack-mount devices and were never marketed as consumer products.
danachow 5y ago
I wouldn’t really call that a standard, more like an inexpensive consumer offering - there a bunch during the 90s it’s sort of an enticing offering - just use the vhs recorder you already have. You’d be crazy to use that for mission critical backup.
wheels 5y ago
S-VHS was very commonly used for data in the pro-audio world in form of ADAT: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADAT https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADAT Apparently that was about 1.8 GB of data. Cassette tapes were also common in early computers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_Datasette https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_Datasette Apparently in the "Turbo-Tape" iteration, they could store about 2 MB.

legohead 5y ago

my older brother had a weekend job where he would go and change backup tapes for some company on the weekends. he'd bring his Amiga and we'd play video games while we waited for the tapes to do their thing. I was pretty young so I don't remember the details, but they had to rewind/seek/? which took a long time.

danachow 5y ago
Those were most likely backup tapes made specifically for data like DLT or LTO, Travan, etc. DAT and 8mm (Data8) could legitimately be used for backup. VHS was never a widespread backup medium especially when affordable more reliable options were readily available in the 90s - DVHS itself flopped and backup onto consumer VHS was always a gimmick. Tape is still widely used for backup, it’s not quite dead.
- jasomill 5y ago
  While never popular, Metrum/MountainGate VHS drives and libraries saw significant use by at least a few large customers for a number of years, so were presumably more than a gimmick (source: personal tech support experience). Note that, in spite of the recording media (S-VHS, IIRC, not D-VHS) used, these drives were rugged, expensive, rack-mount devices and were never marketed as consumer products.

danachow 5y ago

I wouldn’t really call that a standard, more like an inexpensive consumer offering - there a bunch during the 90s it’s sort of an enticing offering - just use the vhs recorder you already have. You’d be crazy to use that for mission critical backup.

wheels 5y ago

S-VHS was very commonly used for data in the pro-audio world in form of ADAT: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADAT https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADAT Apparently that was about 1.8 GB of data. Cassette tapes were also common in early computers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_Datasette https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_Datasette Apparently in the "Turbo-Tape" iteration, they could store about 2 MB.