Recent experiences and future expectations in data storage technology

For more than 10 years the conventional media for High Energy Physics has been 9 track magnetic tape in various densities. More recently, especially in Europe, the IBM 3480 technology has been adopted while in the United States, especially at Fermilab, 8 mm is being used by the largest experiments as a primary recording media and where possible they are using 8 mm for the production, analysis and distribution of data summary tapes. VHS and Digital Audio tape have recurrently appeared but seem to serve primarily as a back-up storage media