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IBM 3850

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174: 22: 153:) and fed into a reader/writer unit that could work on several tapes at the same time. Originally the system was going to be used as a directly attached memory device, but as the speed of computers grew in relation to the storage, the product was re-purposed as an automated system that would offload little-used data from 212:
Cartridges were moved into and out of read stations by two motorized accessor arms, electrically connected via flat cable on a drum. Stage time for data from cartridge to disk was typically 15 seconds, including about two seconds to move the cartridge into a read station, and eight to ten seconds to
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Several models of the 3851 were available. The smallest A1 holding 706 cartridges storing 35.3GB, while the largest A4 held 4,720 cartridges storing 236GB in a 20-foot (6.1 m) long unit. All of the units were also available in the "B models" which added a second controller for on-line backups,
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The Mass Storage System consisted of a library of cylindrical plastic cartridges, two inches wide and 4 inches (100 mm) long, each holding a spool of tape 770 inches (20 m) long storing 50 MB; each virtual disk required a pair of cartridges. These cartridges were held in a hexagonal
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When free disk space was required a group of cylinders were selected to be destaged to tape, these were transferred with minimal or no change of format. Each tape could store 202 cylinder images of 19 tracks each, half of the 404 cylinders in a 3330 disk pack. Cylinder locations on the tape were
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while under development, IBM management found a number of niche uses for the concept, and announced it officially as the IBM 3850 on October 9, 1974. After more than a decade (comparable to the
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as well as offline storage. A second series was released on March 6, 1980, doubling maximum capacity to 472GB. The entire series was discontinued on August 5, 1986.
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began development of a low-cost mass storage system based on magnetic tape cartridges. The tapes would be accessed automatically by a robot (known as an
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The 3851 did not support 3350 staging drives formatted in native mode, only 3350 drives formatted as 3330.
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used to hold large amounts of infrequently accessed data. It was one of the earliest examples of
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The recording method was unusual for its time. The drive pulled the
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disk drives, and physically cached on a combination of 3330 and
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Pugh, Emerson W.; Johnson, Lyle R.; Palmer, John H. (1991).
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from the cartridge and wound it once around a cylindrical
46:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. 302:Introduction to the IBM 3850 Mass Storage System 254:fixed and identified by markers along the edge. 165:, 1964–1975), it was withdrawn August 5, 1986. 418:Frankfurt museum's MSS (with video, in German) 205:. These were all connected together with the 8: 370:IBM Developerworks, Inside System Storage 106:Learn how and when to remove this message 145:Starting in the late-1960s IBM's lab in 292: 272: 321: 311: 228:, then stopped the tape. The drive's 7: 403:IBM details of tape recording method 44:adding citations to reliable sources 366:"Correct use of the term Nearline" 14: 408:IBM description and announcement 20: 343:. MIT Press. pp. 536–540. 341:IBM's 360 and early 370 systems 31:needs additional citations for 184:IBM 3851 Mass Storage Facility 1: 413:Good photos of tape cartridge 157:systems. Known internally as 120:IBM 3850 Mass Storage System 438:Computer storage tape media 454: 393:Columbia University's MSS 248:helical recording systems 213:read the 200-foot tape. 207:IBM 3830 Storage Control 238:Exabyte's helical drive 236:recording, long before 364:Pearson, Tony (2010). 178: 182:array of bins in the 176: 250:developed earlier). 240:(which was based on 40:improve this article 433:IBM storage devices 179: 163:IBM 2321 Data Cell 147:Boulder, Colorado 116: 115: 108: 90: 445: 380: 379: 377: 376: 361: 355: 354: 336: 330: 329: 323: 319: 317: 309: 307: 297: 280: 277: 177:A data cartridge 135:nearline storage 111: 104: 100: 97: 91: 89: 48: 24: 16: 453: 452: 448: 447: 446: 444: 443: 442: 423: 422: 389: 384: 383: 374: 372: 363: 362: 358: 351: 338: 337: 333: 320: 310: 305: 299: 298: 294: 289: 284: 283: 278: 274: 269: 260: 171: 143: 112: 101: 95: 92: 49: 47: 37: 25: 12: 11: 5: 451: 449: 441: 440: 435: 425: 424: 421: 420: 415: 410: 405: 400: 395: 388: 387:External links 385: 382: 381: 356: 349: 331: 291: 290: 288: 285: 282: 281: 271: 270: 268: 265: 259: 256: 195:staging drives 170: 167: 142: 139: 114: 113: 96:September 2016 28: 26: 19: 13: 10: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 450: 439: 436: 434: 431: 430: 428: 419: 416: 414: 411: 409: 406: 404: 401: 399: 396: 394: 391: 390: 386: 371: 367: 360: 357: 352: 350:9780262161237 346: 342: 335: 332: 327: 315: 304: 303: 296: 293: 286: 276: 273: 266: 264: 257: 255: 251: 249: 246: 243: 239: 235: 231: 227: 223: 219: 214: 210: 208: 204: 200: 196: 193: 189: 185: 175: 168: 166: 164: 160: 156: 152: 148: 140: 138: 136: 132: 129: 125: 121: 110: 107: 99: 88: 85: 81: 78: 74: 71: 67: 64: 60: 57: –  56: 52: 51:Find sources: 45: 41: 35: 34: 29:This article 27: 23: 18: 17: 398:IBM Archives 373:. Retrieved 369: 359: 340: 334: 301: 295: 275: 261: 252: 234:helical scan 215: 211: 206: 202: 198: 194: 183: 180: 158: 150: 144: 131:tape library 123: 119: 117: 102: 93: 83: 76: 69: 62: 50: 38:Please help 33:verification 30: 322:|work= 169:Description 427:Categories 375:2015-08-16 287:References 66:newspapers 55:"IBM 3850" 324:ignored ( 314:cite book 203:destaging 155:hard disk 126:) was an 188:IBM 3330 159:Comanche 151:accessor 222:mandrel 199:staging 141:History 80:scholar 347:  258:Models 242:analog 128:online 82:  75:  68:  61:  53:  306:(PDF) 267:Notes 245:video 226:helix 224:in a 87:JSTOR 73:books 345:ISBN 326:help 230:head 218:tape 201:and 192:3350 118:The 59:news 124:MSS 42:by 429:: 368:. 318:: 316:}} 312:{{ 137:. 378:. 353:. 328:) 122:( 109:) 103:( 98:) 94:( 84:· 77:· 70:· 63:· 36:.

Index


verification
improve this article
adding citations to reliable sources
"IBM 3850"
news
newspapers
books
scholar
JSTOR
Learn how and when to remove this message
online
tape library
nearline storage
Boulder, Colorado
hard disk
IBM 2321 Data Cell

IBM 3330
3350
tape
mandrel
helix
head
helical scan
Exabyte's helical drive
analog
video
helical recording systems
Introduction to the IBM 3850 Mass Storage System

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