Design Of The Drive; Labeling A Tape Cartridge - DEC VAX 4000 300 Manual

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3.1.2.1 Design of the Drive

The TF85 tape drive operates like a reel-to-reel tape deck. Inside the drive

is a take-up reel with a leader attached. Inside the cartridge is a single

reel containing the magnetic tape. When you insert the cartridge and push

in the handle, the leader in the drive automatically couples with the leader

in the cartridge, and the tape winds onto the take-up reel. The coupling

and winding process is called loading. When the automatic loading process

is complete, the tape is ready to use.

Once the cartridge is loaded, you cannot remove it without rewinding and

uncoupling the leaders, a process called unloading. Even if you have not

used the tape, you must unload it before you can remove the cartridge.

When you press the Unload button, the tape rewinds into the cartridge

and the leaders uncouple.

When recording data on a cartridge, label its contents.

For your

convenience, a slot for the label is provided on the front of the cartridge.

Write the identiﬁcation on the label and insert the label in the slot on the

front of the cartridge, as shown in Figure 3–4. The label is visible when

the tape is in the drive.

3–8 VAX 4000 Model 300 Operation

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