In data processing, a scratch tape is a magnetic tape that is used for temporary storage and can be reused or erased after the completion of a job or processing run.[1] During the early years of computing, when magnetic tape was the primary form of mass storage, many programs, notably sorting routines, required such temporary storage. The term can also be used to refer to a tape that had been used to store data that has now expired, if that tape is expected to be reused to store similar data, such as during a backup rotation.