Measurement of tape position error

摘要

Positioning of a tape head relative to a magnetic tape may be improved through accurate measuring of magnetic tape position error. The tape head includes at least one read module having two servo read elements. A head control detects the presence of corresponding synchronization fields passing the servo read elements. The elapsed time between the detected synchronization fields is determined. Tape skew is calculated based on the elapsed time. Tape position error calculation may be further improved by including another servo read element on either a second read module or a write module. Tracking information read from two servo read elements scanning the same servo stripe is used to calculate the offset between a read module and the write module.