DOGE ditches magnetic tape, but experts defend the legacy tech

Why it matters: Many users, including staffers at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), likely consider magnetic tape storage severely outdated. Despite being around for several decades, the technology still enjoys widespread use, is still evolving, and retains certain advantages over optical and solid-state media. DOGE recently announced that it has replaced 14,000 magnetic storage tapes used by the US General Services Administration (USGSA) with unspecified "modern" digital formats. The move, which the department says will save $1 million per year, drew sharp criticism from experts who defended the ancient but still useful technology. The announcement presumably referred to magnetic Linear Tape-Open (LTO) drives and cartridges, a storage medium invented in 1952. Although consumer devices have long since transitioned to hard disk and solid-state drives, which are far faster, businesses still regularly use LTO. IBM plans to continue using the format for decades. The @USGSA ... Read full article.