ZX Microdrive

It was proposed as a faster-loading alternative to the cassette and cheaper than a floppy disk, but it suffered from poor reliability and lower speed.

Microdrives used tiny cartridges containing a 5-metre (200 in) endless loop of magnetic tape, which held a minimum of 85 KB and performed a complete circuit in approximately eight seconds.

Development of the ZX Microdrive hardware by Sinclair engineers Jim Westwood, David Southward and Ben Cheese started in 1982.

[citation needed] A total of eight ZX Microdrive units could be connected to the Interface 1 by daisy chaining one drive to the next via an electrical connector block.

[2] The tapes stretched during use (giving them a short life span), eventually rendering the data stored unreadable.

In addition to the QL versions, dual internal Microdrives were included in the related ICL One Per Desk system (also badged as the Merlin Tonto and Telecom Australia Computerphone).