Quarter inch cartridge tape (abbreviated QIC , commonly pronounced "quick") is a magnetic tape data storage format introduced by 3M in 1972, with derivatives still in use as of 2016. QIC comes in a rugged enclosed package of aluminum and plastic that holds two tape reels driven by a single belt in direct contact with the tape. The tape was originally 1 ⁄ 4 inch (6.35 mm) wide and anywhere from 300 to 1,500 feet (91 to 457 m) long. Data is written linearly along the length of the tape in one track (mostly on pre-1980 equipment), or written "serpentine", one track at a time, the drive reversing direction at the end of the tape, and each track's data written in the opposite direction to its neighbor. Since its introduction, it has been widely used, and many variations exist. There is a QIC trade association that publishes QIC standards which include interfaces and logical formats. To a very large extent it was the efficiency and openness of this organization which encouraged hardware and software developers to use this type of drive and media.
22-399: The QIC cartridge is distinguished from other types of tape cartridges by containing an endless drive belt which is moved at a uniform speed by a motorised capstan . Since the belt is in contact with the tape, this ensures both that the tape moves at uniform speed, and that neutral tension is maintained at all times. This is in contrast to cassette tapes or DATs , where the tape is moved past
44-417: A capstan shaft in order to create friction necessary to drive the tape along the magnetic heads (erase, write, read). Most magnetic tape recorders use one capstan motor and one pinch roller located after the magnetic heads in the direction of the moving tape. However multiple pinch rollers may also be employed in association with one or more capstans. An example of the application of multiple pinch rollers
66-506: A small beginning or end of tape hole which is detected by an optical sensor, and an "early warning" hole further from each end. If a defective drive—for example with fluff in a sensor—winds the tape past the BOT or EOT marker, the tape will detach from the spool and the cartridge will be unusable unless it is reattached. The design of the QIC tape cartridge is very robust: the aluminium baseplate
88-590: A time. A tension arm is a device used in magnetic tape recorders /reproducers to control the tension of the magnetic tape during machine operation. The recorders equipped with a tension arm can utilize more than one of them to control tape tension in different direction of winding or during different modes of tape operation. Tension arms can also be found on digital data recorders and other types of recorders/reproducers using continuous tape media such as magnetic digital tape, perforated paper tape, and analog magnetic tape. ATAPI ATAPI ( ATA Packet Interface )
110-439: Is 1 ⁄ 10 inch (2.54 mm) thick, and the robust plastic cover can withstand abuse and impacts that would damage other tape formats. However, because the tape is belt-driven, seeking back and forth can eventually cause the tape to become unevenly tensioned. It is therefore necessary to periodically retension the cartridge. This is accomplished by winding the tape from beginning to end and back in one operation, allowing
132-575: Is a protocol used with the Parallel ATA (IDE) and Serial ATA standards so that a greater variety of devices can be connected to a computer than with the ATA command set alone. It carries SCSI commands and responses through the ATA interface. ATAPI devices include CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives, tape drives , magneto-optical drives , and large-capacity floppy drives such as the Zip drive and SuperDisk drive . ATA
154-518: Is present, and these were not provided in the ATA protocol. The Small Form Factor committee approached this problem by defining ATAPI as part of the fourth generation of ATA. ATAPI carries SCSI commands through ATA, so ATAPI devices are "speaking SCSI" other than at the electrical interface. In fact, some early ATAPI devices were simply SCSI devices with an ATA/ATAPI to SCSI protocol converter added on. The SCSI commands and responses are embedded in "packets" (hence "ATA Packet Interface") for transmission on
176-476: Is the Technics RS-1520 tape recorder, which utilizes two pinch rollers located on opposite sides of a single capstan shaft, providing a more stable transport across two sets of magnetic heads. Dual pinch rollers are also used (along with dual capstans) in auto-reverse cassette decks to drive the tape in both directions as needed. In this case, only one pinch roller is pressed against its corresponding capstan at
198-476: The ATAPI ( IDE ) interface. Capstan (tape recorder) A tape transport is the collection of parts of a magnetic tape player or recorder that move the tape and play or record it. Transport parts include the head, capstan, pinch roller, tape pins, and tape guide. The tape transport as a whole is called the transport mechanism . The tape head is the part of a tape recording or playback device which converts
220-593: The QIC-02 and QIC-36 drive interface standards. Later QIC DC drives usually use the QIC-104/111 SCSI and QIC-121 SCSI-2 interfaces. Other Data Cartridge (DC) look-alikes: Later, the smaller Minicartridge (MC) form-factor was introduced. This is 2 + 3 ⁄ 8 inches (60 mm) by 3 + 1 ⁄ 8 inches (79 mm) size and is small enough to fit in a 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 -inch (90 mm) drive bay . The QIC-40 and QIC-80 were designed to use
242-581: The ATA cable. This interfaces ATA with any device class for which a SCSI command set has been defined. ATAPI devices are also "speaking ATA" because the ATA physical interface and protocol are still being used to send the packets. The Direct Memory Access feature for the ATA interface was introduced along with ATAPI. The SCSI commands and responses used by each class of ATAPI device (CD-ROM, tape, etc.) are described in other documents or specifications specific to those device classes and are not within ATA/ATAPI or
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#1732859154076264-399: The belt to equalize itself. For newer QIC drives that use a SCSI interface, there is a SCSI "RETENSION" command to do this. When the cartridge gets old, the belt may not provide enough friction to turn the takeup spool smoothly. When this happens, the tape will need to be replaced. In some cases a cartridge must be formatted before use. The capability to do this is in the drive rather than
286-426: The cartridges physically longer to accommodate larger spools. In many cases a standard QIC drive and backup package can use the extended length to store additional data, however in some cases an attempt to reformat a QIC-EX cartridge fails since the time taken to traverse the extra length triggers a timeout in the drive or controlling software intended to detect a broken tape. An interface standard for tape drives using
308-418: The head by a capstan and pinch wheel, but the takeup reel is driven by a servo motor or slipping clutch. The tape in a QIC cartridge is not physically attached to the reels and is never completely unwound. This is again different from other cassettes or cartridges, which generally have some form of clip anchoring on at least one end of the tape. To ensure that the tape is never completely unwound, each end has
330-460: The host computer. The first QIC tape format was the 5 + 7 ⁄ 8 inches (150 mm) by 3 + 7 ⁄ 8 inches (98 mm) Data Cartridge (DC) format with two internal belt-driven reels and a metal base. The original product, the DC300 , has 300 feet of tape and holds 200 kilobytes. Various QIC DC recording formats have appeared over the years, including: Other QIC DC standards include
352-427: The magnetic fluctuations present in the tape into an electrical signal, which is then amplified and sent to speakers or headphones. The tape head is set off-center in a multitrack device in order to record or play one or more tracks running in each direction of the tape (e.g. the two different tracks present on most, if not all, compact cassettes ). The capstan is a rotating spindle used to move recording tape through
374-409: The mechanism of a tape recorder . The tape is threaded between the capstan and one or more rubber-covered wheels, called pinch rollers, which press against the capstan, thus providing friction necessary for the capstan to pull the tape. The capstan is always placed downstream (in the direction of tape motion) from the tape heads. To maintain the required tension against the tape heads and other part of
396-462: The same floppy disk controller as a standard floppy drive , with MFM or RLL encoding. Travan is an evolution of the QIC Minicartridge format, sold for personal computer use. This version, developed by 3M , uses a longer and wider (8 mm) tape to give higher capacities. SLR is Tandberg Data 's name for its line of high-capacity QIC data cartridge drives. As of 2005, Tandberg
418-472: The tape takeup reel (which was used on some cheap tape recorders), causes problems both with the speed difference between a full and empty reel and with speed variations as described. Dual capstans, where one is on each side of the heads, are claimed to provide even smoother tape travel across the heads and result in less variance in the recorded/playback signal. The pinch roller is a rubberized, free-spinning wheel typically used to press magnetic tape against
440-520: The tape transport, a small amount of drag is placed on the supply reel. Tape recorder capstans have a function similar to nautical capstans , which however have no pinch rollers, the line simply being wound around them. The use of a capstan allows the tape to run at a precise and constant speed. Capstans are precision-machined spindles, and polished very smooth: any out-of-roundness or imperfections can cause uneven motion and an audible effect called flutter . The alternative to capstan drive, simply driving
462-458: Was originally designed for, and worked only with, hard disks and devices that could emulate them. A group called the Small Form Factor committee (SFF) introduced ATAPI to be used for a variety of other devices that require functions beyond those necessary for hard disks. For example, any removable media device needs a "media eject" command, and a way for the host to determine whether the media
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#1732859154076484-485: Was the only manufacturer of SLR/QIC drives in the world. The largest SLR drive can hold 70 GB of data (140 GB compressed). A variant from Sony that uses a wider .315 inch (8 mm) tape and increases the recording density. QIC-Wide drives are backwards compatible with QIC tapes. QIC Extra , a modification to support longer tapes and thus more data by the Verbatim Corporation , was made possible by making
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