Young Black Haired Girl Posing With A Magnetic Tape

Data storage
In all tape formats, a tape drive (or "transport" or "deck") uses motors to wind the tape from one reel to another, passing tape heads to read, write or erase as it moves.
Magnetic tape was first used to record computer data in 1951 on the Eckert-Mauchly UNIVAC I. The recording medium was a thin strip of one half inch (12.65 mm) wide metal, consisting of nickel-plated bronze (called Vicalloy). Recording density was 128 characters per inch (198 micrometre/character) on eight tracks.