Editing Digital Equipment Corporation (section)

==== DECtape ====
{{Main|DECtape}}

One of the most unusual peripherals produced for the PDP-10 was the [[DECtape]]. The DECtape was a length of special 3/4-inch wide magnetic tape wound on 5-inch reels. The recording format was a highly reliable redundant 10-track design using fixed-length numbered data "blocks" organized into a standard file structure, including a directory. Files could be written, read, changed, and deleted on a DECtape as though it were a disk drive. For greater efficiency, the DECtape drive could read and write to a DECtape in both directions.

In fact, some PDP-10 systems had no disks at all, using DECtapes alone for their primary data storage. The DECtape was also widely used on other PDP models, since it was much easier to use than hand-loading multiple paper tapes. Primitive early time-sharing systems could use DECtapes as system devices and [[swapping device]]s. Although superior to paper tape, DECtapes were relatively slow, and were supplanted once reliable disk drives became affordable.