Exabyte 620190-001 SMCD-785400-A03 Tape Drive Backplane Board SMCD

Exabyte 620190-001 SMCD-785400-A03 Tape Drive Backplane Board SMCD

This is an Exabyte Corporation tape drive backplane board, part number 620190-001, board assembly revision SMCD-785400-A03. Backplane boards of this type serve as the central interconnect within Exabyte tape drive and tape library systems, routing SCSI signals, power distribution, and control signals between the drive mechanism, controller electronics, and host interface. This board is a direct spare or replacement component for Exabyte tape systems using the SMCD-785400 backplane assembly.

Specifications & What's Included

• Manufacturer: Exabyte Corporation
• Part Number (P/N): 620190-001
• Board Assembly: SMCD-785400-A03
• Type: Tape Drive Backplane Board (PCB)
• Date Code: 9615b (approximately week 15, 1996)
• Interface: SCSI (DB50 connector visible on board)
• Connectors: DB50 SCSI header, mini-DIN connector, DB15-style connector, multiple multi-pin ribbon/header connectors
• Board layout: green double-sided PCB with multiple large ICs, surface-mount and through-hole components
• Silkscreen: "EXABYTE CORPORTATION / SMCO" printed on board edge
• Board only — no enclosure, cables, or drive mechanism included

Applications

Exabyte Corporation was a Colorado-based manufacturer of 8mm tape drives and tape library systems, active from the late 1980s through the 2000s. Their drives and autoloaders were widely used in Unix workstation environments, data centers, and storage networks for backup and archival of large datasets — particularly in scientific, engineering, and enterprise computing environments that relied on high-capacity 8mm tape media. The SMCD-series backplane boards like this one are internal PCB assemblies found in Exabyte tape drives and library units, connecting the mechanical drive module to the SCSI host interface and control electronics. Today, these boards are sought primarily as replacement/spare parts for maintaining legacy Exabyte tape systems that remain in service for long-term archival access. The date code indicates manufacture in 1996, placing this squarely in the mid-1990s generation of Exabyte SCSI tape products.