History Main / ComputerEqualsTapedrive

* In the [[UsefulNotes/The8bitEraOfConsoleVideoGames 8-bit Era]] of home computers [[labelnote:Examples]]Commodore 64, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Dragon, TRS-80 etc.[[/labelnote]] software was available on cassette tapes, which were the exact same format as the Compact Cassettes. In fact, certain systems [[labelnote:Examples]]ZX Spectrum and TRS-80 Color Computer in particular, as well as the Apple ][,[[/labelnote]] actually used standard cassette players as their tape "drives" and you could hear the software if you played the software tapes in a standard Hi-Fi (which also meant that a dual deck cassette deck of the sort that was common in the early 1990s made a perfect copying device!).[[note]]However, if you used the high speed dubbing setting (tempting as it sounds like an unholy screech) it would be unreadable[[/note]] If you did your own programming you could record to them as well, making them the exact precursor to home use floppy drives. While North American users quickly moved on to faster floppy drives, cassettes remained the main data storage medium on 8-bit computers in Europe until they were superseded by more powerful machines because floppy drives were too expensive.

** The Famicom, the Japanese version of the UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem, had a tape recorder accessory that worked in tandem with the Famicom Keyboard to let one save and recall the programs they’ve written in Famicom BASIC onto tape. Some games (like VideoGame/WreckingCrew) even used the Famicom Keyboard and tape recorder to make save games before battery backed RAM and flash memory were affordable solutions to include on cartridges. To load (precompiled) games directly from tape, however, required a third party device called a Fukutake Studybox. None of these devices left Japan.

* In the original ''Franchise/XMen'' comic in the '60s, Cerebro had a tape drive.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' takes place in the ''actual'' 1960s. Granted, this world has been shown to have more advanced science than its period (or our own, or [[MST3KMantra the laws of physics]]), but nothing that would have been out of place in a sci-fi flick of the period, which still probably would have featured tape drives.

-->-- '''[[https://youtu.be/kGGQ1wvMDr8?t=4m47s Gordon Freeman]]''', ''WebVideo/FreemansMind''

* In ''Film/IronSky'', the moon-nazi scientist doesn't believe that a smartphone is really a computer. He points to, yes, a room-filling beast of a computer with tape reels and blinky lights and says, "That's (the phone) not a computer. ''This'' (room-filling beast with blinky lights etc) is a computer!" He's forced to admit his machine is woefully out-of-date upon actually ''using'' said phone. He then reverse-engineers the phone's USB jack and uses it to [[spoiler: run a space cruiser]].

* In ''{{Series/Lost}}'', the computer room in the first hatch (Desmond's, the Swan, 2nd season) has 'em. Whether or not the inclusion is realistic, it's good for maintaining that Forbidding Doomsday Computer vibe. The overall effect of pairing this visual with the song "Make Your Own Kind of Music" is positively surreal (especially compared to the outdoors setting that formerly predominated). It's established later in the series that the installation and computer were set up in the late 70s and then [[spoiler: mostly]] isolated from the outside world, so the tape drives (and monochromatic text-prompt computer interface) are completely era-appropriate.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', Bender hangs a pinup of a tape deck computer. [[spoiler: Fry approves]].

* ''LightNovel/KinosJourney'': One country obviously has very highly advanced technology, but the computers there apparently still use tape drives.

* Sid Bliss' dating agency in ''Film/CarryOnLoving'' features a matchmaking computer that involves lots of flashing lights and spinning reels of tape, all of which looks quite high gloss for 1970. However, it's all purely decorative - the "computer" is Sophie, Sid's "wife" (they're not actually married), who hides in the room behind the computer and simply picks matches at random from the names they have on file.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Series/{{UFO}}'': In this Gerry and Sylvia Anderson series, a montage of flashing lights, spinning tape drives, blocky letters on coloured monitors, swaying female buttocks, and rows of large luminous buttons accompany every RedAlert.

* In the [[UsefulNotes/The8bitEraOfConsoleVideoGames 8-bit Era]] of home computers [[labelnote:Examples]]Commodore 64, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Dragon, TRS-80 etc.[[/labelnote]] software was available on cassette tapes, which were the exact same format as the Compact Cassettes. In fact, certain systems [[labelnote:Examples]]ZX Spectrum and TRS-80 Color Computer in particular, as well as the Apple ][,[[/labelnote]] actually used standard cassette players as their tape "drives" and you could hear the software if you played the software tapes in a standard Hi-Fi (which also meant that a dual deck cassette deck of the sort that was common in the early 1990s made a perfect copying device!). If you did your own programming you could record to them as well, making them the exact precursor to home use floppy drives. While North American users quickly moved on to faster floppy drives, cassettes remained the main data storage medium on 8-bit computers in Europe until they were superseded by more powerful machines because floppy drives were too expensive.

* In ''Film/Swordfish'', the villain hides a computer virus in a university's old 1970s tape drive, as that's the last place the good guys would look for it.

* In ''Film/OperationSwordfish'', the villain hides a computer virus in a university's old 1970s tape drive, as that's the last place the good guys would look for it.

* ''VideoGame/Control'' includes them because [[CassetteFuturism the Oldest House doesn't get along with technology post-1985 or so.]] Reel-to-reel players are found in numerous locations holding audio logs to add to your [[StoryBreadcrumbs media collection.]]

[[caption-width-right:300:[[ItBelongsInAMuseum That belongs]] in a [[http://www.computerhistory.org/ museum!]] ]]

->''"Whoa, whoa, what's this? Are you kidding me? Are we using tape reel computers? Noooo! Wait ... are those slots for punched cards?"''
-->-- '''[[https://youtu.be/kGGQ1wvMDr8?t=4m47s Gordon Freeman,]]''' ''Machinima/FreemansMind''

* ''{{Series/UFO}}'': In this Gerry and Sylvia Anderson series, a montage of flashing lights, spinning tape drives, blocky letters on coloured monitors, swaying female buttocks, and rows of large luminous buttons accompany every RedAlert.

[[folder:Machinima]]
* Lampshaded in ''Machinima/FreemansMind'' when Gordon enters an old but still in-use rocket test site. Despite being under attack from an EldritchAbomination, it is the sight of a tapedrive (and punchcards, see the page quote) that sends him to a raging rant.
[[/folder]]

* The computers in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' are often found with tape drives. In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'', these are described as being very modern reel-to-reel devices. Justified, given the slightly twisted alternate history the games exist in (e.g. the transistor was never invented in the ''Falloutverse''; the background went right on with a 1950s-esque vision of the future for more than a century, right up until the bombs fell).

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' not only does the [[Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension Yoyodyne]]-built [[https://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/203/ computer]] in the Generictown University Science Department have a tape drive (to be fair, the Dean's personal computer is a [[https://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/209/ TRS-80),]] but so does a random [[https://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/416 gizmo]] on the alien planet of Butane.

** In another episode, [[spoiler: malevolent supercomputer]] M.U.T.H.eR. is on a reel-to-reel mainframe. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d when M.U.T.H.eR. [[spoiler:tries to launch a nuclear missile]]; while everyone else is panicking, Pete White mentions that a computer that runs on such an ancient mainframe (and uses a dial-up modem) can't act very quickly.

* A first season episode of the ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' featured the G.E.E.C., a computer that could replace all the world's laborers. It filled many rooms, and sported several reel-to-reel tape drives.

[[folder: Real Life]]

* In ''Film/IronSky'', the moon-nazi scientist doesn't believe that a smartphone is really a computer. He points to, yes, a room-filling beast of a computer with tape reels and blinky lights and says, "That's not a computer. ''This'' a computer!" He's forced to admit his machine is woefully out-of-date upon actually ''using'' said phone. He then reverse-engineers the phone's USB jack and uses it to [[spoiler: run a space cruiser]].

* Human computers in ''VideoGame/TheBureauXcomDeclassified''. Since it's set in 1962, totally justified.

This was primarily done because the computer itself is very visually uninteresting when in operation. [[RuleOfPerception When a Tape Drive is operating, there is obviously something going on]] - just look at the [[WhenThingsSpinScienceHappens spinning capstans!]] (This was also, it must be remembered, the era before ''monitors'' and graphical user interfaces were common, so computational results generally had to come from a printout.)

In the 1990s the films ''Film/ClearAndPresentDanger'' and ''Eraser'' featured [=StorageTek PowderHorn=] robotic tape "silos".

* Surprisingly, magnetic tape drives ''are'' still used in the modern day, and new developments are still being made; as of December 2017, Ultrium LTO-8 tapes are available, storing 12TB of uncompressed data (30TB compressed, with an effective hardware compression ratio of 2.5:1). They're mainly stored in a backup location far from the main site of the source data, used as a long-lived backup and/or to replace data in case of a disaster. The reason is that magnetic tapes can be easily swapped quickly (since only the tape needs to be replaced) while hard drives cannot (unless the center pays for a hard drive that can, which can cost thousands). Also, when properly stored, in a dry and climate-controlled environment, magnetic tapes last for ''decades'', moreso than hard drives or [=CDs=].
** It should be noted, however, that these modern tapes look absolutely nothing like the reel-to-reel tapes of yesteryear. In particular you can't see the reels or magnetic strip without disassembling them.

* In ''LightNovel/KinosJourney'', one country obviously has very highly advanced technology, but the computers there apparently still use tape drives.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}''s 1964 story arc ''ComicBook/TheUntoldStoryOfArgoCity'' shows the super-advanced Kryptonian's computers use reel-like tape drives.

* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' not only does the [[Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension Yoyodyne]]-built [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20071208.html computer]] in the Generictown University Science Department have a tape drive (to be fair, the Dean's personal computer is a [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20071229.html TRS-80),]] but so does a random [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20091229.html gizmo]] on the alien planet of Butane.

This was primarily done because the computer itself is very visually uninteresting when in operation. [[RuleOfPerception When a Tape Drive is operating, there is obviously something going on]] - just look at the [[EverythingsBetterWithSpinning spinning capstans!]] (This was also, it must be remembered, the era before ''monitors'' and graphical user interfaces were common, so computational results generally had to come from a printout.)

This was primarily done because the computer itself is very visually uninteresting when in operation. [[RuleOfPerception When a Tape Drive is operating, there is obviously something going on.]] (This was also, it must be remembered, the era before ''monitors'' and graphical user interfaces were common, so computational results generally had to come from a printout.)

* In the [[UsefulNotes/The8bitEraOfConsoleVideoGames 8-bit Era]] of home computers [[labelnote:Examples]]Commodore 64, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Dragon, TRS-80 etc.[[/labelnote]] software was available on cassette tapes, which were the exact same format as the Compact Cassettes. In fact, certain systems [[labelnote:Examples]]ZX Spectrum and TRS-80 Color Computer in particular, as well as the Apple ][,[[/labelnote]] actually used standard cassette players as their tape "drives" and you could hear the software if you played the software tapes in a standard Hi-Fi (which also meant that a dual deck cassette deck of the sort that was common in the early 1990s made a perfect copying device!). If you did your own programming you could record to them as well, making them the exact precursor to home use floppy drives. While North American users quickly moved on to faster floppy drives, cassettes remained the main data storage medium on 8-bit computers until they were superseded by more powerful machines because floppy drives were too expensive.

* In the [[UsefulNotes/The8bitEraOfConsoleVideoGames 8-bit Era]] of home computers [[labelnote:Examples]]Commodore 64, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Dragon, TRS-80 etc.[[/labelnote]] software was available on cassette tapes, which were the exact same format as the Compact Cassettes. In fact, certain systems [[labelnote:Examples]]ZX Spectrum and TRS-80 Color Computer in particular, as well as the Apple ][,[[/labelnote]] actually used standard cassette players as their tape "drives" and you could hear the software if you played the software tapes in a standard Hi-Fi (which also meant that a dual deck cassette deck of the sort that was common in the early 1990s made a perfect copying device!). If you did your own programming you could record to them as well, making them the exact precursor to home use floppy drives.