Magnetic tape: The challenge of reaching hard-disk-drive data densities on flexible media

By the end of 2006, the areal density of magnetic recording on tape will approach that seen in hard disk drives of the early to mid-1990s. These operating conditions are reviewed in relation to the operating conditions deemed necessary for the future of magnetic data storage on tape. What results is a clear set of tasks, encompassing both materials and systems architecture issues, to achieve very high-density data storage on magnetic tape, leading to 10 Tbyte tape cartridge capacities and higher. The key to achieving on tape the areal densities of tens to hundreds of Gbit/in.(2), common in hard disk drives (HDDs), lies primarily in the properties of the medium itself. As for volumetric density of the storage entity, HDDs and tape cartridges are roughly equivalent. The mechanical dimensional uncertainties that accompany the use of flexible, as opposed to rigid, media means that both the mechanical and magnetic properties of materials play a key role in the future of tape. The need for new architectures to overcome the track placement problem that results from increasing track density on flexible media are reviewed, as well as the "particles in a binder" concept that has served so well as the physical basis of tape media over the past 50 years.