Cipher Data Products, Inc., was an American computer company based in San Diego, California, and active from 1968 to 1992. The company was once a leading manufacturer of magnetic-tape data drives and media for minicomputers, becoming a pioneer in tape streamer technology in the early 1980s. In the late 1980s, they also briefly manufactured WORM optical discs, through a joint venture with 3M. In 1990, they were acquired by Archive Corporation for $120 million.
Site of Cipher Data Products' manufacturing plant in Garden Grove, California, now owned by Saint-Gobain, pictured in 2021
A tape drive is a data storage device that reads and writes data on a magnetic tape. Magnetic-tape data storage is typically used for offline, archival data storage. Tape media generally has a favorable unit cost and a long archival stability.
DDS tape drive. Above, from left to right: DDS-4 tape (20 GB), 112m Data8 tape (2.5 GB), QIC DC-6250 tape (250 MB), and a 3.5" floppy disk (1.44 MB).
An external QIC tape drive
Control Data Corporation 606 tape drive, showing two long vertical vacuum columns in the lower part.