Technical data

12 U26140-J-Z146-3-76
Handling quarter-inch magnetic tape cartridgesQuarter-inch cartridge tape
2.4.1 Life of a magnetic tape cartridge
The life of a cartridge depends on the frequency with which the tape passes the
read/write head. The number of “head passes” is proportional to the quantity of
data transferred.
The following applies to quarter-inch cartridges with a capacity of 155 and 525
Mbyte.
A maximum of 5000 head passes can be performed.
The tape has 18 tracks. The entire length of the tape passes the read/write head
for each track. If 155 or 525 Mbytes of data have been written to this tape, the
entire tape will have passed the read/write head a total of 18 times. This means
that the cartridge can be written with 155 or 525 Mbytes of data approximately
260 times. If the data is read once for each time it is written, the life of the
cartridge is reduced to 130 complete read/write operations for 155 or 525
Mbytes of data.
Ambient conditions also have a considerable effect on the life of a magnetic
tape cartridge. You should therefore take special note of the following section
on the care of magnetic tape cartridges.