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Chapel with an array of food cards

Tapes were a type of computer memory storage medium used by Earth and Federation space exploration vessels from the 21st through the 23rd centuries.

In 2065, the recorder marker of the SS Valiant was so equipped. When the marker was recovered by the USS Enterprise in 2265, both Captain Kirk and Science Officer Spock hoped that "its tapes were still intact" despite the age of the marker and its distressed condition. Spock later commented that the tapes were burned out, but he was able to interpolate data stored in the memory banks. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before")

Whatever the mechanics of these tapes might be, they are susceptible to being scanned and understood by advanced races. The Talosians did so in 2254, as well as Balok in 2266. (TOS: "The Cage", "The Corbomite Maneuver")

The sensors aboard Constitution-class vessels maintained "microtape" records. In 2267, the Constellation's tapes were pulled and beamed to the Enterprise for analysis of the planet killer. (TOS: "The Doomsday Machine")

A version of these tapes resembled 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.

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