Engineering:Scratch tape

Magnetic tape that might be used as a scratch tape.

In data processing, a scratch tape is a magnetic tape that is used for temporary storage and can be reused or erased after the completion of a job or processing run. During the early years of computing, when magnetic tape was the primary form of mass storage, many programs, notably sorting routines, required such temporary storage.

See also

• Scratch space – contemporary equivalent
• Merge sorting tape drives – paradigm application