DLT tapes and streamer

Another standard with long history. The characteristical thing is that cartridges have only one reel - the other one is fixed in streamer. After the cartridge is loaded in, the tape is pulled from it through its way to another reel. To remove tape it's needed to re-wind it back to cartridge.
First units from 1984 allowed to store 100MB of data. Newest tapes can hold up to 800GB. Of course they're not backwards-compatible. See here for details.


Manufacturer: Compaq

Type: Linear magnetic streamer, SCSI
Capacity:  100MB-800GB


DLT tape

These devices had electromagnetically locked handle which allowed tape to be loaded in.

DLT tape. Notice tape starting point (last picture) used to pull tape into streamer