page_title: Data8
hierarchical_section_title: Data8
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of a Sony-brand Data8 data cartridge, to improve the Data 8 article which currently shows an 8mm video tape, rather than a data tape.
context_page_description: The 8 mm Backup Format is a magnetic tape data storage format used in computer systems, pioneered by Exabyte Corporation. It is also known as Data8, often abbreviated to D8 and is written as D-Eight on some Sony branded media. Such systems can back up up to 60 GB of data depending on configuration. The tapes used are mechanically the same as the tapes used in 8 mm video format recorders and camcorders.
  Until the advent of AIT, Exabyte were the sole vendor of 8 mm format tape drives. The company was formed with the aim of taking the 8 mm video format and making it suitable for data storage. They did so by building a reliable mechanism and data format that used the common 8 mm helical scan video tape technology that was available then.
  Exabyte's first 8 mm tape drive was made available in 1987. This was followed up with their Mammoth tape drive in 1996, and the Mammoth-2 in 1999.
  Exabyte's drive mechanisms were frequently rebranded and integrated into UNIX systems.
context_section_description: The 8 mm Backup Format is a magnetic tape data storage format used in computer systems, pioneered by Exabyte Corporation.  It is also known as Data8, often abbreviated to D8 and is written as D-Eight on some Sony branded media. Such systems can back up up to 60 GB of data depending on configuration.  The tapes used are mechanically the same as the tapes used in 8 mm video format recorders and camcorders.
  Until the advent of AIT, Exabyte were the sole vendor of 8 mm format tape drives. The company was formed with the aim of taking the 8 mm video format and making it suitable for data storage.  They did so by building a reliable mechanism and data format that used the common 8 mm helical scan video tape technology that was available then.
  Exabyte's first 8 mm tape drive was made available in 1987.  This was followed up with their Mammoth tape drive in 1996, and the Mammoth-2 (M2) in 1999.
  Exabyte's drive mechanisms were frequently rebranded and integrated into UNIX systems.
caption: a Sony 8mm Data Cartridge
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