"There are digital tape drives, where data is recorded as you suggested, or at least pretty close. Until home-writeable CDROMs became common, many computers used tape for backup. They might even still be made..."

One of my friends in IT says that tape backup is still a common server backup method because it is very cheap, can hold huge quantities of data, and is better for long term storage than most alternatives. Who would have guessed? The tape storage idea is an oldie but a goodie.

- Lee