Tapes or cards were a type of 23rd century computer memory storage medium, resembling 20th century floppy discs but with far greater capacity. (TOS: "The Cage", "The Menagerie, Part I", "The Menagerie, Part II", "Tomorrow is Yesterday", "And the Children Shall Lead", "The Lights of Zetar", "Obsession"; TAS: "The Survivor")
- Considering the memory storage capabilities of 23rd century computers, it is unclear why such a medium would be necessary, unless it became a security measure to safeguard information from being downloaded by alien scans. Of course, it's often easier to move a physical object from one device to another than to use a finding aide such as a browser to locate the same item again, so perhaps this was merely a convenience rather than a permanent storage facility.