Apple Tape Backup 40SC (1987)
An external SCSI tape drive documented by Apple in July 1987. Its quarter-inch DC2000 cartridges held up to 38.5 MB formatted data despite the 40SC product name.

© Stephen Edmonds · CC BY-SA 2.5 Generic ↗
Specs
| Key feature | M2640 |
| Storage | 38.5 MB formatted per cartridge |
| Ports | SCSI |
| Extras | DC2000 · QIC-100 |
Documented in 1987
Apple's original M2235 brochure is dated July 1987 and lists M2640 as the drive order number. It establishes 1987, not an exact first-sale day. Macintosh Plus, SE and II with a hard disk appear among requirements.
Formatted capacity is 38.5 MB. The 1988 manual warns that a completely full 40 MB disk may need more than one cartridge. The name is not guaranteed usable capacity.
Tape and performance
Apple describes quarter-inch DC2000 cartridges, QIC-100 and 24 serpentine tracks. Software backs up and restores HFS volumes or files and folders. These are different operations, not indiscriminate support for every format.
The brochure lists up to 1 MB per minute in volume mode and 1.25 MB per minute in burst mode. The unit is minute, not second: changing it multiplies the advertised rate sixtyfold.
Formatting and photograph
The 1988 manual estimates about 40 minutes to format a cartridge and warns not to interrupt or eject while the red activity light flashes. The 1987 brochure said 35 minutes; both remain attributed rather than inventing one duration.
Stephen Edmonds photographed this drive in 2006. The source identifies Tape Backup 40SC and licenses it CC BY-SA 2.5. File preserved without new changes; no proof of internal revision or operation, and not a launch photo.