The FACOM 6480 was a streaming magnetic tape unit from Fujitsu which was completed in May 1981. Magnetic tape units using conventional open reel tape were equipped with a vacuum column as a tape shock absorber mechanism, but this unit eliminated the vacuum column and adopted the reel-to-reel direct drive system. This made the tape feed mechanism extremely simple. The result was reduced cost and greatly reduced power consumption and noise, so the unit could be used in the office environment.
The unit had two operation modes—streaming mode and start/stop mode. In streaming mode, data could be transferred at a high speed of 160Kbyte/s, and the system had high cost performance as a magnetic tape unit for backing up and restoring large amounts of data. In start/stop mode, it needed repositioning of the tape, so data transfer speed dropped to 20Kbyte/s.
In December 1983, Fujitsu completed the FACOM 6481A which increased recording density to 6250RPI.
| FACOM 6480A (FACOM 6480R)(*1) |
FACOM 6481A (FACOM 6481R)(*1) |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Completion date | May 1981 | December 1983 | |
| Recording density(RPI) | 1,600 | 6,250/1,600 | |
| Data transfer speed | Streaming mode | 160KB/s | 625/160KB/s |
| Start/stop mode | 20KB/s | 78/20KB/s | |
| Main connected systems | FACOM M-310/320 FACOM M-130F/140F |
FACOM M-310/320/330 FACOM/PANAFACOM S-3000 Series |
|
*1: The FACOM 6480R and 6481R were rack mount magnetic tape units for the FACOM/PANAFACOM S-3000 Series.
