9 Track Tape - Technical Details

Technical Details

9-track 800 NRZI and 1600 PE (phase encoding) tapes use a 0.6 inches (15 mm) inter-record gap (IRG) between data records to allow the tape to stop and start between records. 6250 GCR tapes use a tighter 0.3 inches (7.6 mm) IRG. The 9-track tapes had reflective stickers placed 10 feet (3.0 m) from the beginning of tape (BOT) and 14 feet (4.3 m) from the end of tape (EOT) to signal the hardware. Nine-track tapes commonly had densities of 800, 1600, and 6250 cpi, giving approximately 20MB, 40MB and 140MB respectively on a standard 2,400 feet (730 m) tape. Signaling EOT (end of tape) with space remaining to write trailer blocks allowed support for multivolume labelled tapes.

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