Data Storage Technology (DST) is a 19 mm (3/4") wide magnetic tape data storage

Magnetic tape data storage

Magnetic tape data storage uses digital recording on to magnetic tape to store digital information. Modern magnetic tape is most commonly packaged in cartridges and cassettes. The device that performs actual writing or reading of data is a tape drive...

 format created by Ampex

Ampex

Ampex is an American electronics company founded in 1944 by Alexander M. Poniatoff. The name AMPEX is an acronym, created by its founder, which stands for Alexander M. Poniatoff Excellence...

 in 1992. The DST format was also made by Ampex as a digital videotape format, DCT

DCT (videocassette format)

DCT is a digital recording component videocassette format developed and introduced by Ampex in 1992. It was based on the D1 format, and unlike the uncompressed recording scheme of D1, it was the first digital videotape format to utilize data compression...

, using the same design of cassette. DST is relatively high capacity and high speed, especially compared to other tape technologies available in the 1990s. There are 3 standard tape cartridge sizes compatible with each generation, "Small", "Medium", and "Large".

Generations

Generation	Original	Double Density	Quad Density
Release Date	1992	1996	2000
"Small" Capacity (GB)	25	50	100
"Medium" Capacity (GB)	75	150	300
"Large" Capacity (GB)	115	330	660
Max Speed (MB/s)	15		20

External links

• Entry in Computer Desktop Encyclopedia http://www.computerlanguage.com/webexamples.htm (Search for "DST")
• Ampex's History http://www.ampex.com/news/history.html (Search for "DST")