/archive

Format histories.

Each guide follows a magnetic or optical family through origin, working life and decline, then the compatibility and recovery problems that remain.

Collection10 deep dives

Mediamagnetic + optical

Methodhistory + recovery

Flashexcluded

Magnetic tape

reel, linear, helical and enterprise

2000 → now

LTO Ultrium

The open enterprise standard and generation compatibility.

TK50 → DLT → SDLT

DLT & Super DLT

DEC ancestry and 1990s server backup.

4 mm helical

DDS & DAT

DAT-derived computer tape through DAT320.

¼-inch lineage

QIC & Travan

Minicomputers, Unix and desktop backup.

8 mm

Exabyte, Mammoth & VXA

Professional helical tape and VXA's separate packet path.

specialist

AIT, S-AIT, SLR & ADR

Distinct Sony, Tandberg and OnStream systems.

mainframe / library

Enterprise tape

IBM and StorageTek institutional lineages.

Magnetic disk

flexible and removable cartridge

8 in → 3.5 in

Floppy & SuperDisk

Floppy, ED, Floptical and LS-120/240.

1994 → 2000s

Iomega Zip

100, 250 and 750 MB removable magnetic disks.

cartridge disk

Bernoulli, Jaz, SyQuest, REV & RDX

Removable magnetic disk across creative and backup systems.

Optical & magneto-optical

disc and cartridge media

laser

CD, DVD & Blu-ray

Pressed, recordable and rewritable optical media.

magneto-optical

MO & MiniDisc

3.5-inch and 5.25-inch MO, MD Data and Hi-MD.

institutional archive

WORM, UDO & DVD-RAM

Archive and random-access optical systems.

Found something unusual?

Use the Format map to identify the family or the Periodic system to browse the visual collection.

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