IBM Magstar MP 3570

IBM chose a different approach, placing the start-of-tape initial load-in point halfway along the tape's length.

This improves average access times, with a worst-case seek request needing spool through only a maximum of half the tape's length.

In comparison, traditional formats may need to spool through the full tape length, doubling the time-to-seek of IBM's product.

This family of drives, alongside the StorageTek 9840, may be the only modern tape storage products taking this mid-tape load-point approach.

The IBM 3570 product line included three types of tape systems: The original drives, called B-type, had a native uncompressed data rate of 5 MB/second.