DAT
(Digital Audio Tape) is a standard medium and technology for the digital
recording of audio on tape at a
Professional level of quality. A DAT drive is a digital tape recorder with rotating heads similar to those found in a video deck. Most DAT drives can record at sample rates of 44.1 kHz, the CD audio standard, and 48 kHz. DAT has become the standard archiving technology in professional and semi‐professional recording environments for master recordings. Digital inputs and outputs on professional DAT decks allow the user to transfer recordings from the DAT tape to an audio workstation for precise editing. The compact size and low cost of the DAT medium makes it an excellent way to compile the recordings that are going to be used to create a CD master.
As an archiving medium, DAT is an alternative to consider along with
- Digital Data Storage (DDS1 through DDS3)
- Optical disc
- VHS tape
Acronym
for digital audio tape, a type of magnetic tape that uses a scheme called
helical scan to record data. A DAT cartridge is slightly larger than a credit
card in width and height and contains a magnetic tape that can hold from 2 to 24
gigabytes of data. It can support data transfer rates of about 2 MBps. Like
other types of tapes, DATs are sequential‐access
media. The most common format for DAT cartridges is DDS (digital data storage).
What is WORM (write once, read many)?
WORM
(Write Once, Read Many) storage had emerged in the late 1980s and was popular
with large institutions for the archiving of high volume, sensitive data. When
data is written to a WORM drive, physical marks are made on the media surface
by a low-powered laser and since these marks are permanent, they cannot be
erased.
In
computer media, write once, read many, or WORM, is a data storage technology
that allows data to be written to a storage medium a single time and prevents
the data from being erased or modified. Data stored on a WORM-compliant device
is considered immutable; authorized users can read the data as often as needed,
but they cannot change it. Immutable storage plays a pivotal role in meeting
data security and compliance requirements and protecting against ransom ware
and other threats.
Storage
media that support WORM storage are purposely non-re writable to prevent anyone
from intentionally or accidentally erasing or modifying the data after it is
initially stored. Because of this feature, government agencies and enterprises
have long used WORM devices for archival purposes. Organizations subject to
compliance rules find the technology useful. For example, the Securities and
Exchange Commission requires brokers and dealers to retain their digital
records on storage media that preserves the records in a non-re writable,
non-erasable format.
The
result is that the relative advantages of the two types of system make them
complementary rather than competitive – optical drives offering security,
magnetic drives real-time performance. The development of the CD/DVD
technologies to include recordable and re-writable formats has had a dramatic
impact in the removable storage arena and compatibility is an important and
unique advantage of the resulting family of products. Today’s market is large
enough to accommodate a number of different technologies offering a wide range
of storage capacities.
The
predominant are:
- magnetic disk
- magneto-optical
- phase-change
At
time of writing, the resulting range of capacities can be categorized as
follows:
- floppy replacements (100MB to 150MB)
- super-floppies (200MB to 300MB)
- hard disk complement (500MB to 1GB)
- removable hard disks (1GB plus)
