HISTORY:
Now here is a blast from the past, probably only of interest to those who have a collection of dated tape based backup systems, 1990's era.
In the day, this type of data backup system was very popular for small business owners and individuals who had the sense to backup their data (many didn't ... until that inevitable hard drive crash occurred!), particularly for "off site" data storage ... many different systems were in the marketplace, ranging from the monster 10.5" reel based 9 track tape loaders for enterprises and large businesses/government agencies right down to these small Mini Cartridge based systems.
In the early days of my previous business (1980's ~ 1990's), we dealt with many media types as part of our data retrieval services (our pre-audio production days) and after using things like 8", 5.25" and eventually 3.5" floppy disks, these little tape systems were just magical and "reasonably" reliable. During this period, our business used to be provide data retrieval services and the media they used - this is probably the last Travan mini-cartridge we had left and it has been sitting in a box of similar tapes ever since the 1990's!
Travan was a system designed by 3M and an upgrade to the commonly used QIC standard, using 8mm width tape with linear recording techniques which provided for much higher data storage capacities with higher transfer rates - this TRAVAN-3 media is one of the "little ones" and you could go right up to the massive (at the time) 40Gb mini cartridges. In those days it was almost unthinkable that you would ever need 40Gb of storage ... I remember not long before these cartridges came out, the manufacturer I did industrial systems design work for were "playing" with the very earliest full height hard drives with a capacity of 5Mb! Yes, just 5Mb (Seagate or Mitsubishi I think they were) and then the technology was improved to provide 10Mb, then 20Mb and away she went - the explosion in hard drive data storage had begun!
Here is another wonderful vintage promotional video, transferred from VHS tape no less! Wow! I just love looking back into the past, by doing this you can see where you have been and (hopefully) know where you are going ...
Wait for it ... the first 15 seconds are just Black screen!
3M IMATION - Data Mini Cartridge
Made in USA
Type: TRAVAN-3
Capable of storing 1.6Gb in the raw format or 3.2Gb when using compression
Supplied in the original clear plastic outer casing, but no spare labels or instructions. In fact I can see the label has been attached to the cartridge so I believe there is a good chance this tape was used (how many times?)
NO writing of any kind on the cartridge or outer protective case
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED (Probably)
This was part of our "left over" stock but as a label has been attached to the cartridge, I believe this tape has been used in the past.
CLEAN
Stored in sealed clear plastic and this Mini Cartridge will be supplied the same way - not to give the impression it is new but simply to protect the cartridge from the environment.
