tape drive

noun

, Computers.

1. a program-controlled device that reads data from or writes data on a magnetic tape which moves past a read-write head.

tape drive

noun

1. computing a device for reading from or writing to magnetic tape

Word History and Origins

Origin of tape drive¹

First recorded in 1950–55

Example Sentences

A shoebox sat beside the tape drive, filled with dozens of these cassettes.

From Literature

They face worries current storage options—primarily tape drives—will at some point stop reliably retaining data, or that hardware to read aging storage formats will become unavailable.

From Wall Street Journal

Lots of old tape drives are rugged and effective.

From Scientific American

The earlier project involved 1,500 magnetic tapes and a couple of old, broken tape drives.

From New York Times

Due to its use of storage tiering Elastic Storage automatically moves infrequently used data to less expensive low cost tape drives while storing more frequently used data on high-speed flash memory. 

From Forbes

Related Words

• disk drive
• hardware
• modem
• personal computer
• supercomputer