is a storage device that reads data from one location and writes it onto a tape such as magnetic tape or a punched card. It is typically used for storage of data, which is stored on hard drives. Tape media generally has a favourable unit cost and long archival stability. Various features of tape media are:
• Is used as a data transfer media but its transfer speed is varying considerably. The fast tape drives can transfer as much as 20 MB per second.
• Has data capacity that ranges from a few hundred kilobytes to several gigabytes.
• Is typically used for archival storage of data stored on hard drives.
Disadvantage
The disadvantage of tape drives is that they are sequential access devices. Sequential access means if you want to read any particular block of data, you need to read all the preceding blocks. This makes them too slow for general purpose storage operations. However, they are the least expensive media for making backups.