History (1994): Exabyte Mammoth/Mammoth-2

This article was published by the Museum of Obsolete Media.

Mammoth/Mammoth-2 (1994-2001)

Mammoth was a higher-capacity version of 8mm or Data8 tape and was introduced in 1994 by Exabyte.

Mammoth-2 was subsequently introduced in 1999.

When introduced, a Mammoth tape could hold 20GB of data.

Mammoth cassettes used Advanced Metal Evaporated (AME) tape. Although they read (but not write) earlier Exabyte 8mm tapes which used metal particle tape, it was required that Mammoth drives be cleaned after every time these were used. Mammoth-2 used tape called ‘AME with SmartClean’. Although Mammoth tapes could be used, it was not recommended.

Mammoth-2 could hold 30GB of data.

In 2001, Exabyte merged with Ecrix, makers of VXA, and Exabyte moved away from Mammoth.