Abstract: A magnetic tape drive emulator provides interface compatibility between a computer system having an industry standard tape drive interface and a peripheral image acquisition processing system. The emulator receives signals that are normally applied to a magnetic tape drive system and converts them into data signals which are formatted for general access by the image acquisition processing system. In addition, the magnetic tape drive emulator converts signals generated by the peripheral processing system into data signals which are formatted for access by the computer system through the standard tape drive interface.