Magnetic tape head assembly having segmented heads

摘要

A magnetic tape head assembly is disclosed for use with a magnetic tape storage medium. The assembly includes an interior tape head module having a magnetic gap with 16 or more tape head elements, and a first exterior tape head module adjacent one side of the interior module, the first exterior module having a magnetic gap with 16 or more tape head elements. The assembly also includes a second exterior tape head module adjacent the other side of the interior module, the second exterior module having a magnetic gap with 16 or more recording elements. The distances between consecutive magnetic gaps of the interior and exterior modules are each approximately 60 microns, and the interior and exterior modules together define a semi-circular tape interface contour. In the preferred embodiment, the interior module is a write head with 16 write elements, and the exterior modules are each read heads with 16 data read elements and 6 servo read elements.