Digital Tape Format

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Digital Tape Format is a magnetic tape data storage format developed by Sony. It uses a 1/2" wide tape, in a cassette with two reels, which is written and read with a helical scan process. The format is described by the ECMA 248 (adopted June 1998) and ISO/IEC 15731 standards. There are two sizes of tape cassettes, "S" and "L".

[edit] Generations

Generation	DTF-1	DTF-2
Release Date	199?	1999
"S" Capacity (GB)	12	42
"L" Capacity (GB)	60	200
Max Speed (MB/s)	12	24

Notes:

Both used ALDC compression
DTF-2 used Fibre Channel or SCSI interfaces
The tape cassettes are similar to those of Sony Betacam.

[edit] External links

ECMA 248 Specification of DTF-1. [1]
ECMA 315 Specification of DTF-2. [2]
Brochure for DTF-1 drive with specs
DTF at the Computer Desktop Encyclopedia, including images

v • d • e

Magnetic tape data storage formats

Three Quarter Inch (19 mm)

Linear

LINCtape (1962) • DECtape (1963)

Helical

Sony DIR (19xx) • Ampex DST (1992)

Half Inch (12.65 mm)

Linear

UNISERVO (1951) • IBM 7 track (1952) • 9 track (1964) • IBM 3480 (1984) • DLT (1984) • IBM 3590 (1995) • T9840 (1998) • IBM 3592 (?) • T9940 (2000) • LTO Ultrium (2000) • T10000 (2006)