A computer program product for orienting a head includes a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith. The program instructions are readable and/or executable by a controller to cause the controller to: determine a desired pitch for transducers for reading and/or writing to a magnetic tape; and cause a mechanism to orient a head to achieve the desired pitch. The array of a first of the modules is offset from the array of a second of the modules in a first direction parallel to the axis of the array of the second module such that the transducers of the first module are about aligned with the transducers of the second module in the intended direction of tape travel thereacross when the axes are oriented at an angle greater than 0.2 relative to a line oriented perpendicular to the intended direction of tape travel.

In one general embodiment, an apparatus includes at least two modules, each of the modules having an array of transducers, wherein the at least two modules are fixed relative to each other, wherein an axis of each array is defined between opposite ends thereof, wherein the axes of the arrays are oriented about parallel to each other, wherein the array of a first of the modules is offset from the array of a second of the modules in a first direction parallel to the axis of the array of the second module such that the transducers of the first module are about aligned with the transducers of the second module in an intended direction of tape travel thereacross; and a mechanism for orienting the modules about an axis orthogonal to the plane in which the arrays reside to control a transducer pitch presented to a tape.

A magnetic device according to one embodiment includes a source of flux and a magnetic yoke coupled to the source of flux. The source of flux includes a thin film coil having multiple turns. The magnetic yoke has a pole with two or more gaps, wherein the coil turns have a non-uniform placement in the magnetic yoke for creating a higher magnetic field at one of the gaps than another of the gaps during writing. A magnetic device according to another embodiment includes a source of flux. A geometry of the magnetic pole near or at one of the gaps is different than a geometry of the magnetic pole near or at another of the gaps to help equalize fields formed at the gaps when the source of flux is generating flux.

In one embodiment, an apparatus includes at least first and second modules, a mechanism for orienting the modules to control a transducer pitch presented to a tape, and a controller physically configured to determine a state of expansion of the tape based on a readback signal from the tape. Each of the modules have an array of transducers. The first and second modules are fixed relative to each other. The transducers of the first module are about aligned with the transducers of the second module in an intended direction of tape travel thereacross when longitudinal axes of the arrays are oriented at an angle greater than 0.2 relative to a line oriented perpendicular to the intended direction of tape travel. The controller is physically configured to control the mechanism for altering the angle of the modules away from the nominal angle based on the state of expansion of the tape.

Implementations described and claimed herein includes a method comprising selecting a zone of one or more tracks on a disk drive having a plurality of magnetic sensors on a transducer head, determining a performance matrix related to the selected track zone, and selecting a first subset and a second subset of the plurality of magnetic sensors based on the determined performance matrix, wherein only the first subset of the plurality of magnetic sensors are used for data recovery in the selected track zone, and the second subset of the plurality of magnetic sensors are used for servo recovery.