The design innovations in the IBM 3803 Tape Control Unit and the IBM 3420 Magnetic Tape Unit are discussed. The new design concepts include a full readback parity check, a system of microprogram control that obtains high operating rates through overlap of channel control and motion control functions, a new phase-error detection system, a modified dual-density recording feature and a new interfa...

The sources of lateral tape motion in a tape drive are reviewed. Currently used measurement methods and models for lateral tape motion are analyzed and compared. The effect of roller run-out, tape edge contact, and tape tension transients on lateral tape motion is discussed. A dual stage actuator tape head is investigated to improve track-following capability and increase the track density on a...

We investigated how a 10–50 μm layer from soft ferromagnetic material, incorporated in the architecture of a composite superconducting tape, could influence the capability of the tape to transport electrical current. Numerical procedure was developed to calculate the local distribution of magnetic field and current in the condition when all the superconductor is carrying its critical current de...

The friction coefficient is an important parameter in designing magnetic tape transports. We have introduced laser surface texturing to reduce the friction coefficient between guides and magnetic tape. The surface features enhance the formation of an air bearing and hence, reduce the friction coefficient. INTRODUCTION Lateral tape motion (LTM) is defined as the time-dependent motion of the tape...

Air-lubricated foil bearings are used in a variety of applications such as turbomachinery, journal bearings, dentistry equipment, etc. [1–3]. One of the most intricate applications of air-lubricated foil bearings can be found in magnetic tape drives [4], where a magnetic tape moves over a read/write head and tape drive components such as guides (stationary) and rollers (rotating). Friction is a...

Recovering evidential data from magnetic tapes in a forensically sound manner is a difficult task. There are many different tape technologies in existence today and an even greater number of archive formats used. This paper discusses the issues and challenges involved in the forensic acquisition and analysis of magnetic tapes. It identifies areas of slack space on tapes and discusses the challe...

The low cost per megabyte of optical disk and magnetic tape storage make these technologies particularly attractive for use in large capacity storage servers, including multimedia servers. However, these devices have performance problems that range from high costs for many optical drives to low performance and lack of random access in tape drives. We evaluate the performance on multimedia appli...

Non-contact tension measurement of magnetic tape is performed. Light from a focussed light source is directed at a tape surface and the light reflected from the tape is captured by a photo cell. As the tape tension varies, the divergence of the reflected light bundle changes, i.e., the amount of light seen by the photo cell is a measure for the tension in the tape. Using this noncontact tension...