Tape drives

An improved streaming tape drive (10) is adapted for receipt of a cartridge in a side oriented configuration. The drive has a cam 80 which opens a door 70 in an inserted cartridge and an actuator knob 16 for moving a read-write and erase head (172) into contact with tape (60) through the resulting opening. The read-write head is supported by a plurality of equidistant azimuth and zenith maintaining supports (186-204). Movement of the head across the face of the tape for positioning the head is different channel locations is accommodated by a motor (212) connected to a nut (214) moving a threaded screw (216). Electrostatic discharge protection to avoid adversely affecting the tape drive electronics operation is accommodated by providing a controlled discharge path, and electrostatic shield (19a) on the face of the front of the frame and by providing a solid ground path (196) to the cartridge inside the drive face.