Definition: QIC

(Quarter Inch Cartridge) A magnetic tape technology introduced in the early 1980s that was used for backup. It was the only popular magnetic tape format for personal computers. The "quarter inch" name came from the original tape width; however, subsequent Travan drives used wider .315" tape.

Travan and SLR
Personal computer magnetic tape backup has long been superseded by flash drives and the Internet. However, the two QIC formats that survived the longest were 3.5" Travan minicartridges and the 5.25" SLR data cartridges. Most drives supported cartridges one generation back. See Travan, QIC-Wide, QIC-EX and magnetic tape.

 3.5" MINICARTRIDGES (Native Capacity)

             QIC    QIC-
          DC-2000   Wide  Travan   QIC-EX
 Format      .25"  .315"   .315" .25-.315"
 QIC-40      40MB
 QIC-80     125MB  200MB   400MB   500MB
 QIC-3010   340MB  420MB   800MB   1.1GB
 QIC-3020   680MB  850MB   1.6GB   2.2GB
 QIC-3040   840MB    1GB           2.5GB
 QIC-3050     1GB  1.3GB           3.1GB
 QIC-3080   1.6GB    2GB             5GB
 QIC-3095            2GB     4GB     5GB
 QIC-3210          2.3GB           5.1GB
 QIC-3230            8GB    10GB    20GB


 5.25" DATA CARTRIDGES (Native Capacities)

 Tandberg Data
 Scalable Linear Recording (SLR)
 SLR5        4GB
 SLR7       20GB
 SLR60      30GB
 SLR75      38GB
 SLR100     50GB
 SLR140     70GB

 Earlier DC-6000
 Data Cartridges
 QIC-150   250MB
 QIC-525   525MB
 QIC-1000    1GB
 QIC-2GB     2GB
 QIC-5GB     5GB
 QIC-5010   13GB
 QIC-5210   25GB

QIC Cartridge