Peripheral Equipment:Magnetic Tape Units

Brief History｜ Exhibits｜

year/month Timeline
1959/05 NEC completed the 542, a 1/2-inch wide, 8-track magnetic tape unit.
1960/08 Fujitsu completed the FACOM 601 magnetic tape unit, the company’s first, with a tension arm shock-absorbing mechanism.
1961/05 Oki Electric completed the OKITAC-5099, the company’s first commercial magnetic tape unit.
1962　 Hitachi completed the H-144 open reel magnetic tape unit of 8-track, 80 BPI with a tension arm.
1962　 NEC competed the 543A magnetic tape unit of a 1/2-inch wide, 7-track with a tape speed of 4 m/s.
1964/04 NEC completed the N204A 3/4-inch magnetic tape unit and the N204B 1/2-inch magnetic tape unit.
1964/06 Fujitsu completed the FACOM 603A magnetic tape unit employing a vacuum shock-absorbing column mechanism and innovative single capstan drive.
1966/08 NEC announced the E204 2-deck type small magnetic tape unit.
1967/09 Hitachi completed the H-8445 open reel magnetic tape unit of 800 BPI with vacuum double capstan drive for the HITAC 8000 Series.
1967　 Fujitsu completed the FACOM 401A magazine file magnetic tape unit using a cartridge media for the first time in Japan.
1969/05 Hitachi completed the H-8453 open reel magnetic tape unit of 1600 BPI, the highest performance in Japan.
1969　 Fujitsu completed the FACOM 608B, K magnetic tape unit for small systems using a half size reel and equipped with 2 decks in a single enclosure.
1971/11 Hitachi completed the H-8455 open reel magnetic tape unit with an automatic tapethreading mechanism for the first time in Japan.
1974/04 Hitachi completed the H-8468-1 open reel magnetic tape unit that provides automatic tape loading with one-touch (automatic tape setting to the hub and threading functions).
1974/05 NEC announced the N7620 Series magnetic tape unit with 1600 RPI (PE)/800 RPI (NRZ).
1975/02 Fujitsu completed the FACOM 610A magnetic tape unit with the company’s first automatic tape loading mechanism.
1975/06 NEC announced the N7630 Series magnetic tape unit with 6250 RPI (GCR)/1600 RPI (PE).
1976/05 Hitachi completed the H-8488-1 open reel magnetic tape unit with 6250 BPI for export.
1976　 Fujitsu completed the FACOM 611A magnetic tape unit employing a new recording method (GCR) to achieve high recording density and high performance.
1978/10 NEC announced the TD1000 Series small magnetic tape unit for OEM.
1979/09 Hitachi completed the H-8523 mass storage system (MSS), using a magnetic cartridge tape for the storage media and incorporating the virtual memory concept.
1979/10 NEC announced the N7651 mass data file unit with high capacity of 236 GB, holding a maximum of 4, 720 data cartridges.
1980/10 Hitachi completed the H-8487-A10 magnetic tape unit to provide greater compactness and lightweight (1/3 of the conventional), requiring no space for a control unit, and energy consumption (1/2 of the conventional).
1980　 Fujitsu completed the FACOM 6450 high-capacity virtual disk system, employing 50 MB tape cartridges as a secondary memory layer.
1981/05 Fujitsu completed the FACOM 6480 streaming magnetic tape unit, employing the direct tape drive instead of the vacuum column drive mechanism.
1981/10 NEC announced the CT7000 Series 1/4-inch magnetic cartridge tape unit for OEM.
1984/02 NEC announced the N7662 1/2-inch streaming magnetic tape unit.
1985/06 Fujitsu completed the FACOM 6475 cartridge tape unit using VHS media and employing the original data compression function for the first time.
1985/09 Hitachi completed the H-8488-A10 open reel magnetic tape unit equipped equipped with the data compression function for the first time.
1985　 Fujitsu completed the FACOM 6453 tape library unit using VHS magnetic tape, compatible with the company’s FACOM 6475 magnetic tape unit.
1987/01 NEC announced the N7641 200 MB media high-speed cartridge magnetic tape unit and the N7642 magnetic tape unit with automatic cartridge changer..
1987/09 Fujitsu completed the FACOM 6470 magnetic tape unit, supporting IBM 3480 compatible tape media.
1987/10 Hitachi completed the H-6485-1 cartridge magnetic tape unit Å@employing the automatic cartridge changing mechanism for the first time in the world.
1988/11 NEC announced the N7645 magnetic tape library unit for 200 MB media cartridge that can hold a maximum of 6, 250 cartridges.
1989/04 Fujitsu announced the F6455 magnetic tape library unit, supporting IBM 3480 compatible tape media.
1990/09 Hitachi completed the H-6951-1 cartridge magnetic tape library unit that is fully automated and can store a maximum of 6, 560 cartridges.

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