Compared to hard disk drive technology the development of tape seemed comparatively slow during the last five years. Rather than regular revolutionary changes and improvements, all the main tape standards followed an evolutionary process of increasing capacity within easily managed road maps of development. Tape drive formats tend to be proprietary, with each manufacturers tapes and drives being largely incompatible. However, improvements in performance can often be achieved by migrating within the tape family, which allows much of the surrounding infrastructure to remain in place.

A typical tape installation will include automated storage and retrieval of tapes, plus a small bank of write and playback devices. This overall system, and it's associated Robotics (1.2.4) will eventually become obsolete, but usually only after two or more generations of tape have been used within it.

Disruptive tape format changes do occasionally happen however. For instance, a change from helical(g) to linear tape(g) formats might become necessary. It is quite possible that this change will be incompatible with the larger automation and storage device within which your tapes are managed, leading to a requirement to replace the entire installation.