IBM 726

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The IBM 726 was the first commercial tape drive for storing digital data on magnetic tape . It was presented on May 21, 1952 as a peripheral for the IBM IBM 701 computer .

With the 726, larger amounts of data could be stored than with the drum memories available until then . The tape drive was able to read, 7500 characters per second or store (initially, the six were bits of existing data sets of IBM not as characters ( characters ), but as a copy groups called). The storage on the 1.25 centimeter wide and 720 meter long magnetic tape took place in seven tracks; six of them took up one bit each, while the seventh was used for the parity bit . The tape, made of cellulose acetate and coated with iron oxide, was based on the technology of tape tapes that were common at the time . The capacity of one tape was approximately 1.4 megabytes .

James A. Weidenhammer played a key role in the development .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d J. P. Harris, W. Phillips, JF Wells, WD Winger: Innovations in the Design of Magnetic Tape Subsystems . In: IBM Journal of Research and Development . vol. 25, no. 5 , 1981, pp. 692-693 ( online [PDF]).