IBM broke the world record, saved 330 Terabytes into a tape cassette

Never have humans been able to store such a large amount of data on such a small area.

IBM scientists have succeeded in storing 330 Terabytes of uncompressed data into a tape wrapped in the palm of their hand. This amount of data is equivalent to the content of about 330 million books.

This discovery created a new record with storage capacity of 220 Gigabit data per square inch of tape. This number is 20 times the data storage density of tapes being sold commercially.

The first half-inch tapes of IBM can only hold about 2 Megabytes of data.

The tape heads were invented more than 60 years ago. They are often used to store tax documents and health care records. The first half-inch tapes of IBM can only hold about 2 Megabytes of data.

Magnetic tapes were first developed by Sony Storage Media Solutions. And with the results of this study, the tapes will continue to expand storage capacity within the next decade.

Tape tapes are often used to store videos, backup files, and data backups in case of disaster, followed by data storage for cloud computing.

Although the new type of tape has a higher cost than existing tapes, storing a large amount of data makes the Terabyte cost attractive. And this makes new discoveries very relevant in cloud deployment.

Cross section of a magnetic tape sample.

To achieve 201 Gigabit storage per square inch, IBM researchers had to develop a new technology. IBM has also worked with Sony for years to find ways to optimize storage density.

The result of this collaboration leads to improvements such as roll to roll technology that enables long tape manufacturing, or new technology that increases lubrication to stabilize the feature of magnetic tapes.