DC100 was a magnetic tape format for data, introduced by Hewlett-Packard in 1975 for data storage in its HP 9815 programmable calculator and HP 2644A terminal. Previous models in the 9800 series has used magnetic cards which had a very limited capacity, or modified Compact Cassette drives which were too slow.
HP and 3M jointly developed the DC100 from the larger 3M DC300 QIC Data Cartridge, but due to limited production by 3M, HP reverse-engineered the cartridge and improved on the the design so they could manufacture their own cartridges.
DC100 had an uncompressed capacity of 210 KB on a tape length of 140 ft. They used 4mm wide (⅛-inch) tape.
The DC100 data cartridge was also used by HP in the HP 9825 and 9845 programmable calculators, in the HP 80 series of scientific desktop computers of the early 1980s, and in some other models of the HP 2640 series of terminals.
The last device to use the DC100 format was the HP 85B computer, discontinued in 1987.
Figures
Capacity: 210 KB
Dimensions: 63.5 mm × 82.5 mm × 72.7 mm