Cartirdge tape formats and sizes

[David L. Kensiski]

The message John Gilmore posted answered a lot of unasked questions I
had about cartridge tapes, but introduced a couple more.  John wrote:

> There are two variants of the mechanical tape drive -- 4-track and
> 9-track.  The tracks are used like on an 8-track audio tape (run all the
> way down the tape on one track, then mechanically slide the head up or
> down and do another pass of the tape.)

Does this mean that the cartridge tapes are multi-pass?  If so, how many
passes does it take to read the entire tape?  Does the drive read the tape
in both directions, or does it have to rewind before making a second pass?

David L. Kensiski   [KB6HCN]    Martin Marietta Data Systems
Software Engineer               1770 Tribute Road, upstairs
Phone: (916) 929-8844           Sacramento, CA 95815
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