History (1989): Mountain Computer Demos 2.2GB 8mm Helical Scan Tape Drive

At the Hannover Fair, Mountain Computer (Campbell, CA) announced the series 2100 an external tape backup system with a data capacity of 2.2GB on an 8mm helical scan tape cassette, apparently originated from Exabyte, with data rates of over 13MB/s using an SCSI interface.

The unit is compatible with AT-bus computer systems.

The storage subsystem includes the FileSafe software, an SCSI host adapter and interconnect cable, and the drive in a narrow footprint cabinet with self-contained power supply.

Data handling capabilities allows burst data transfer rates of up to 1.5MB/s, and a sustained data transfer rate of 246KB/s.

The SCSI host adapter features embedded 16-bit DMA control to achieve host bus transfer rates of up to 10MB/s.

In addition, the resident controller BIOS firmware supports SCSI disks concurrently with the series 2100 tape drive.

Provisions for multi-threaded operation are included in the controller and are utilized by Mountain’s FileSafe software.

Retail price is $6,959.

This article is an abstract of news published on the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter on issue ≠14, volume ≠2, published on March 1989.