A reel of
magnetic tape about 4 inches
in diameter and one inch wide. Unlike today's macrotapes,
microtape drivers allowed
random access to the data, and
therefore could be used to support file systems and even for
swapping (this was generally done purely for
hack value,
as they were far too slow for practical use). DECtape was a
variant on
LINCtape.
In their heyday DECtapes were used in pretty much the same
ways one would now use a
floppy disk: as a small, portable
way to save and transport files and programs.