SONY

A Storage Tape that is as Gentle as Silk

We at Sony are always thinking about data storage tape. In particular, we are always wondering is the tape is as gentle as can be.

Some high-density writing and reading heads are so delicate that they can be damaged just by the static electricity in the tape. We know that tape is treated harshly in the drive. That's why Sony has designed our tapes to both resist damage and not cause damage to other components.

Imagine storage tapes as fabric. You want fabric that is strong and still comfortable to wear. You want a fabric like silk, that is strong enough to be used in parachutes, while remaining soft enough for your favorite pajamas

Sony storage tapes are like the finest silk for your drive. They minimize wear to drive heads while protecting your valuable data.

Gentle tape that is Soft to the Head

When stored data is read by the drive heads, the tape and the head contact harshly, causing wear and creating static electricity. Sony's design philosophy is to alleviate such phenomenon to provide stable media performance even after many tape read/write cycles. Sony has developed a technology that allows the electrical resistance and the surface roughness of tape to be designed to the optimum values for the system. This dramatically reduces damage to the head by the tape that holds your data and allows stable writing and reading continuously.

Control of Electrical Resistance

High-sensitivity MR heads are used in high-density storage formats such as LTO. 　An MR head is composed of many ultra-thin layers and is extremely delicate. Static electricity is the MR head's most feared enemy. Even a minute charge of static electricity - at a level so low human beings can't even feel it - can destroy a MR head. To manage the static, we slowly release the electricity to the outside so that it cannot build up on the tape. We enable the release of the static electricity by lowering the electric resistance of the tape. However, if the electric resistance is lowered too much, electricity can flow in from the outside and damage the head. Sony's fine control of electrical resistance allows release of static while minimizing potential damage from external electricity.

Providing an Even Surface

The Ongoing Evolution of Tape Smoothing Technology

Sony storage tapes can run an extraordinary distance; much greater than the distance you will walk during your lifetime. Such distances can greatly wear drive heads. Sony tapes are designed to minimize wear to your drive head because of their superb surface characteristics.

Imagine the contact between the drive head and tape is like the contact between your shoes and the road. The rougher the roads you traverse, the greater the wear on your shoes and the more quickly you'll need a new pair. The same applies to the head and the tape. That's why Sony designed our tape with an extremely smooth surface – so smooth that the unevenness is measured in tens of nanometers (one nanometer is one-millionth of a millimeter). This smoothness prevents the tape from destroying the head, even after prolonged contact.

Sony is pursuing this research even further. Our latest technology can make the surface of the tape even smoother than the current tape. The interweaving of Sony technology is creating the Silk Road into the future.