History (1984): Digital Linear Tape
Introduced by DEC for MicroVAX II and PDP-11 minicomputers
This is a Press Release edited by StorageNewsletter.com on December 19, 2018 at 2:22 pmThis article was published by the Museum of Obsolete Media.
Digital Linear Tape (DLT) (1984-)
Digital Linear Tape (DLT) is a magnetic tape storage format for data, originally called CompacTape.
It was introduced by Digital Equipment Corporation in 1984 for use in MicroVAX II and PDP-11 minicomputers.
The original CompacTape I cartridge used 22 tracks and stored 94MB.
DLT uses linear serpentine recording with multiple tracks on half-inch tape. The cartridge contains a single reel and the tape is pulled out of the cartridge by means of a leader tape attached to the take-up reel inside the drive.
In 2001, the higher capacity Super DLT was launched.
A new naming convention took effect in 2005, calling Super DLT (the performance line) DLT-S and DLT(the value line) DLT-V. The latest generation of DLT, DLT-V4 stores up to 320GB.
Development of DLT and Super DLT drives stopped after 2007 when Quantum switched development to LTO, but both DLT-V and DLT-S drives and tapes are still available.
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