Acronym for
digital audio tape, a type of
magnetic tape that uses a scheme called
helical scan to record
data. A DAT
cartridge is slightly larger than a credit card in width and height and contains a magnetic tape that can hold from 2 to 24
gigabytes of data. It can
support data transfer rates of about 2
MBps. Like other types of tapes, DATs are
sequential-access media.
The most common format for DAT cartridges is DDS (digital data storage).