page_title: Digital Data Storage
section_title: Future
hierarchical_section_title: Digital Data Storage / Generations / Future
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Innenleben eines DDS-Streamers English: inside view of a dds drive
context_page_description: Digital Data Storage is a computer data storage technology that is based upon the digital audio tape format that was developed during the 1980s. DDS is primarily intended for use as off-line storage, especially for generating backup copies of working data.
  A DDS cartridge uses tape with a width of 3.81mm, with the exception of the latest formats, DAT-160 and DAT-320, both which use 8mm wide tape. Initially, the tape was 60 meters or 90 meters in length. Advancements in materials technology have allowed the length to be increased significantly in successive versions. A DDS tape drive uses helical scan recording, the same process used by a video cassette recorder.
  Backward compatibility between newer drives and older cartridges is not assured; the compatibility matrices provided by manufacturers will need to be consulted. Typically drives can read and write tapes in the prior generation format, with most also able to read and write tapes from two generations prior. Notice in HP's article that newer tape standards do not simply consist of longer tapes; with DDS-2, for example, the track was narrower than with DDS-1.
context_section_description: The next format, Gen 8, was canceled.
caption: DDS Streamer inside
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