...
| Information Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Identifier | Unique identifier for the media format descriptor. Used as the Data Object Type ID. |
| Format | Enter the specific type of digital storage device. |
| Analog or digital | Indicate if the format is analog or digital. |
| Type of storage device | Enter the general format of the storage device (e.g., hard disk drive, magnetic disc, magnetic tape, optical disc, solid state drive) |
| Dimensions | Enter the dimensions of the digital storage device (if applicable). |
| Typical maximum storage in MB | Enter the typical maximum storage size of the storage device in megabytes (MB). |
| Typical maximum run time in minutes | For audio and video formats, enter the typical maximum run time in minutes |
| URL | Add URL to relevant documentation in the analog and digital media assessments section of the Libraries' Technology Watch wiki |
| Manufacturing notes | Provide notes about any known issues with the manufacturing of the format. |
| Notes about hardware requirements | Provide notes about any general hardware requirements for accessing and preserving data stored on the format. |
| Functioning hardware for playback? | Yes/No checkbox to indicate if the Dalhousie Libraries has functioning hardware for playback. |
Analog formats
...
| Identifier | Format | Type | Dimensions | Typical maximum storage (MB) | Typical maximum runtime (min.) | Manufacturing notes | Hardware requirements | Functioning playback equipment? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audio cassette tape | /wiki/spaces/TW/pages/706641967 | Yes | ||||||
| /wiki/spaces/TW/pages/204669167 | Magnetic video tape | Released by Sony in 1982. | No | |||||
| /wiki/spaces/TW/pages/204669167 | Magnetic video tape | Replaced Betacam, superceded by Digital Betacam. | No | |||||
| /wiki/spaces/TW/pages/320471066 | Film | |||||||
| /wiki/spaces/TW/pages/320471062 | Film | |||||||
| /wiki/spaces/TW/pages/320340003 | Film | |||||||
| IBM 2403 magnetic tape | Magnetic tape | N/A | IBM 2400-series magnetic tapes were designed to work with the IBM System/360 "Administrative Terminal System" | |||||
| /wiki/spaces/TW/pages/213221401 | Phonograph | 12 in. diameter | 12 inch 78 rpm records were introduced in 1903. 10 inch 78 rpm records were popular at the beginning of the 20th century. | |||||
| /wiki/spaces/TW/pages/204669167 | Magnetic tape | 21.9 x 13.7 x 3 cm (8 5/8”x 5 3/8”x 1 3/16 in.) | ||||||
| /wiki/spaces/TW/pages/204669167 | Magnetic tape | 187 mm x 103 mm x 25 mm (7 3⁄8 × 4 1⁄16 × 1 in.) cassette |
Digital formats
...
| Identifier | Format | Type | Dimensions | Typical maximum storage (MB) | Typical maximum runtime (min.) | Manufacturing notes | Hardware requirements | Functioning playback equipment? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 mm data cartridge (Data8) | Magnetic tape | 40,000 | Pioneered by Exabyte Corporation. First form of helical scan tape used commercially for data storage. | No | ||||
| BD (Blu-ray Disc) | Optical disc | 12 cm diameter (4.7 in.) | 25,000 | Yes | ||||
| BD-DL (Blu-ray disc - double layer) | Optical disc | 12 cm diameter (4.7 in.) | 50,000 | Yes | ||||
| BD-R (Blu-ray disc recordable) | Optical disc | 12 cm diameter (4.7 in.) | 25,000 | Yes | ||||
| BD-R DL (Blu-ray disc recordable double layer) | Optical disc | 12 cm diameter (4.7 in.) | 50,000 | Yes | ||||
| BD-RE (Blu-ray disc recordable erasable) | Optical disc | 12 cm diameter (4.7 in.) | 25,000 | Yes | ||||
| BD-RE DL (Blu-ray disc recordable erasable double layer) | Optical disc | 12 cm diameter (4.7 in.) | 50,000 | Yes | ||||
| BDXL (Blu-ray disc extra large capacity) | Optical disc | 12 cm diameter (4.7 in.) | 128,000 | BDXLs that store 100 GBs have three layers (triple-layer disc) and BDXLs that store 128 GB have four layers (quad-layer disc). | Yes | |||
| Bernoulli Box II disk | Magnetic disc | 13.6 cm wide, 14 cm long and 0.9 cm | 150 | N/A | Released by Iomega. Superceded by Iomega zip disk technology. | Requires Bernoulli Box II system. | No | |
| Betacam IMX | Magnetic tape | Introduced by Sony in 2001. | No | |||||
| CD-Digital Audio | Optical disc | 12 cm diameter (4.7 in.) | 700 | Yes | ||||
| CD-Interactive | Optical disc | 12 cm diameter (4.7 in.) | Yes | |||||
| CD-R (Compact Disc recordable) | Optical disc | 12 cm diameter (4.7 in.) | 700 | Older CD players could not play CD-R and CD-RW formats, but most modern CD players can play audio CDs as well as CD-Rs and CD-RWs. | Yes | |||
| CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-Only Memory) | Optical disc | 12 cm diameter (4.7 in.) | 700 | Yes | ||||
| CD-RW (Compact Disc Rewritable) | Optical disc | 12 cm diameter (4.7 in.) | 700 | Older CD players could not play CD-R and CD-RW formats, but most modern CD players can play audio CDs as well as CD-Rs and CD-RWs. | Yes | |||
| CompactFlash (CF) - Type I | Flash memory solid state storage device | 43 mm × 36 mm × 3.3 mm | 512,000 | Introduced in 1994 by SanDisk. Intended for portable devices such as cameras and video recorders. CompactFlash remains popular and is supported by many professional devices and high-end consumer devices. | No | |||
| CompactFlash (CF) - Type II | Magnetic disc | 43 mm × 36 mm × 5 mm | 512,000 | Most Type II devices are Microdrive devices (hard disks). Some flash-based Type II devices were manufactured. Support for type II CF and Microdrives is rapidly disappearing. | No | |||
| DAT (digital audio tape) | Magnetic tape | 73 mm × 54 mm × 10.5 mm (4 mm tape) | No | |||||
| Digital Betacam | Magnetic tape | (1/2 in. tape) | Launched in 1993. Supercedes Betacam and Betacam SP. | Can only be accessed or preserved with Betacam deck connected to computer via SDI. Specialized software required. | No | |||
| DTRS (Digital Tape Recording System) audio tape | Magnetic tape | 23,431.68 | DTRS (Digital Tape Recording System) tape was commonly used in the DA-88 digital multitrack recording system introduced by TASCAM in 1993. | DTRS tape systems use Hi8 video cartridges. 16-track and 24-systems were available. | No | |||
| DV (Digital Video) | Magnetic tape | Released in 1995. Can store digital video recorded in DV, DVCAM, HDV, and other encoding formats | Can only be accessed or preserved with MiniDV deck connected to computer via Firewire. Specialized software required. | Yes | ||||
| DVCPRO | Magnetic tape | 13,000 | Can only be accessed or preserved with DVCPRO deck connected to computer via Firewire. Specialized software required. | No | ||||
| DVCPRO 50 | Magnetic tape | 50 Mbps format | Can only be accessed or preserved with DVCPRO deck connected to computer via Firewire. Specialized software required. | No | ||||
| DVCPRO HD | Magnetic tape | 100 Mbps format | Can only be accessed or preserved with DVCPRO deck connected to computer via Firewire. Specialized software required. | No | ||||
| DVCPRO P | Magnetic tape | Progressive scan version of the DVCPRO format | Can only be accessed or preserved with DVCPRO deck connected to computer via Firewire. Specialized software required. | No | ||||
| DVD+R | Optical disc | 12 cm diameter (4.7 in.) | 4,700 | Yes | ||||
| DVD+RW | Optical disc | 12 cm diameter (4.7 in.) | 4,700 | Yes | ||||
| DVD+RW DL | Optical disc | 12 cm diameter (4.7 in.) | 8,500 | Yes | ||||
| DVD-R | Optical disc | 12 cm diameter (4.7 in.) | 4,700 | Yes | ||||
| DVD-ROM | Optical disc | 12 cm diameter (4.7 in.) | 4,700 | |||||
| DVD-RW | Optical disc | 12 cm diameter (4.7 in.) | 4,700 | |||||
| Floppy disk (3.5 inch) | Magnetic disc | 9 x 9 cm (3.5 x 3.5 in.) | 1.44 | Requires 3.5 inch floppy drive with FC5025 controller or KryoFlux controller. | ||||
| Floppy disk (5.25 inch) | Magnetic disc | 14 x 14 cm (5.25 in.) | 1.2 | Requires 3.5 inch floppy drive with FC5025 controller or KryoFlux controller. | ||||
| Floppy disk (8 inch) | Magnetic disc | 21 x 21 cm (8 in.) | 0.8 | Requires 8 inch floppy drive. Unsupported format at this time. | ||||
| Hard drive (external Firewire) | Magnetic disc | External hard drives with | Requires Firewire cable. | |||||
| Hard drive (external USB) | Magnetic disc | May encounter external drives with USB 1.0, USB 2.0, and USB 3.0 connections | ||||||
| Hard drive (SATA) | Magnetic disc | Requires TC4-8-R2 cable found in adapter box %23 1 in digital forensics lab supply area | ||||||
| Hard drive (solid state) | Flash memory solid state storage device | Requires Asus UX31 UX21 ADATA XM11 XM11ZZB5 SSD to 2.5 Inch SATA adapter card | ||||||
| MiniDisc | Magneto-optical disc | 68 × 72 × 5 mm | 1,000 | Sony brand audio players were on the market from September 1992 until March 2013. | ||||
| MiniDV | Magnetic tape | Can hold digital video recorded in DV, DVCAM, HDV, and other encoding formats. | Can only be accessed or preserved with MiniDV deck connected to computer via Firewire. Specialized software required. | |||||
| MMC (MultiMedia Card) | Flash memory solid state storage device | 24 mm × 32 mm × 1.4 mm | 512,000 | Introduced in 1997 by SanDisk and Siemens AG. | Typically used for storage in portable devices, such as digital cameras and camcorders. | |||
| SD (Secure Digital) | Flash memory solid state storage device | 4,000 | 2 GB maximum is more common. Also known as SDSC (Secure Digital Standard Capacity). | |||||
| SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) | Flash memory solid state storage device | 32,000 | Introduced in January 2006 and defined in version 2.0 of the SD specification. SDHC cards shipped preformatted with the FAT32 file sytem. | |||||
| SDXC (Secure Digital eXtended Capacity) | Flash memory solid state storage device | 2,000,000 | Introduced in 2009. All SDXC cards use Microsoft's exFAT file system as a mandatory feature. | Can only be accessed or preserved with operating systems that support the exFAT file system. | ||||
| USB flash memory | Flash memory solid state storage device | |||||||
| Zip disk | Magnetic disc | 7 x 10.2 x 10.2 cm | 100 | Newer zip disks can store up to 750 MB of data. Format introduced by Iomega in 1994. Fell out of favour in early 2000s. |
...