A method for writing a servo pattern to a magnetic tape medium includes orienting a magnetic flux in opposite directions across gaps in the magnetic tape medium, and moving the magnetic tape medium with its servo band above two gaps in a direction along a longitudinal extension of the magnetic tape medium. The magnetic tape medium includes a servo band along the longitudinal extension of the magnetic tape medium and a servo pattern organized in a servo frame with a first burst having at least two servo stripes, and a second burst having at least two servo stripes. For at least one of the first and second bursts, different stripes within a same burst have opposite magnetic polarities with respect to one another. The method further includes applying a current pulse to the coil, moving the magnetic tape medium, and applying another current pulse to the coil.

The magnetic tape includes: a non-magnetic support; and a magnetic layer containing a ferromagnetic powder, and a magnetic tape cartridge and a magnetic tape apparatus include the magnetic tape. In a binarized image of a secondary electron image obtained by imaging a surface of the magnetic layer with a scanning electron microscope at an acceleration voltage of 5 kV, the number of bright regions having an equivalent circle diameter of 60 nm or more and less than 120 nm is 8000 or more and 30000 or less. Standard deviation of the number of the bright regions in a width direction of the surface of the magnetic layer is 2000 or less.

A method of detecting whether data in a tape drive used in a file system is tampered is described according to one embodiment. The method includes the steps of: (a) preparing a first tape cartridge including a tape on which multiple files and archival records of index information are stored in a WORM partition, and index information is stored in the R/W partition; (b) reading and comparing the index information of the R/W partition and the last index information of the WORM partition; and (c) when these two pieces of index information do not match, determining that the index information of the R/W partition is tampered in case these two pieces of index information do not match.

Method, system, and computer program product embodiments for recording data on a contactless integrated circuit (IC) memory associated with a data storage cartridge are provided. In one exemplary embodiment, a consistency is verified between a TOC written to a contactless IC memory and an index, wherein if the TOC and the index are inconsistent, a TOC profile file is refreshed with data from the index. The TOC is written to the contactless IC memory.

In one embodiment, a method includes writing data to a storage medium, via a write channel, by applying a partial reverse concatenated modulation code to the data prior to storing encoded data to the storage medium. The applying the partial reverse concatenated modulation code to the data includes application of a C2 encoding scheme to the data to produce C2-encoded data prior to application of one or more modulation encoding schemes to the C2-encoded data to produce modulated data, followed by application of a C1 encoding scheme to the modulated data subsequent to the application of the one or more modulation encoding schemes to produce the encoded data.

A magnetic tape medium includes at least one servo band along a longitudinal extension of the tape medium which at least one servo band comprises servo patterns organized in servo frames for supporting to determine positional information. At least one of the servo frames includes a first burst comprising at least two servo stripes inclined at a first angle with respect to a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal extension of the tape medium, followed by a second burst including at least two servo stripes inclined at a second angle with respect to a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal extension of the tape medium, which second angle is different from the first angle. At least one of the stripes of the first burst has a first magnetic polarity and at least one of the stripes of the second burst has a second magnetic polarity different from the first magnetic polarity.

In one embodiment, a data storage system includes a write channel for writing data to a storage medium, the write channel configured to utilize a partial reverse concatenated modulation code. The write channel includes logic adapted for encoding data sets using a C2 encoding scheme, logic adapted for adding a header to each subunit of the data sets, logic adapted for encoding the headers of the data sets with a first modulation encoding scheme, logic adapted for encoding data portions of the data sets with a second modulation encoding scheme, logic adapted for encoding portions of the one or more C2-encoded data sets using a C1 encoding scheme, logic adapted for combining the C1-encoded portions with the modulation-encoded headers of the C2-encoded data sets using a multiplexer, and logic adapted for writing the one or more combined C1 - and C2-encoded data sets to data tracks.

A computer-implemented method, a computer program product, and a computer system for repositioning operation on a tape medium based on dataset information. A computer system obtains dataset information of a dataset on a tape medium in a sync operation, where the dataset information includes positions of data in the dataset. A computer system sends the dataset information of the dataset to a host. In response to starting a repositioning operation, a computer system receives from the host the dataset information of the dataset. A computer system reads the dataset information of the dataset. A computer system repositions to a target on the tape medium, based on the dataset information of the dataset, where a tape drive refers to the dataset information and moves to a position immediately before the target.

Provided are a magnetic recording medium and a magnetic recording cartridge. An average thickness of the magnetic recording medium t.sub.T is t.sub.T5.3 m, a ratio (A.sub.2/A.sub.1) of an average creep slope A.sub.2 at a temperature of 32 C. and a humidity of 80% RH to an average creep slope A.sub.1 at a temperature of 32 C. and a humidity of 20% RH is 1.440 or less, and a ratio (Tan .sub.2/Tan .sub.1) of an average Tan .sub.2 at a temperature of 32 C. and a humidity of 80% RH to an average Tan .sub.1 at a temperature of 32 C. and a humidity of 20% RH is less than 1.2100. The magnetic recording cartridge includes the magnetic recording medium, a memory and a case that accommodates the magnetic recording medium and the memory.

The magnetic tape includes a non-magnetic support, and a magnetic layer containing a ferromagnetic powder. In a binarized image of a secondary electron image obtained by imaging a surface of the magnetic layer with a scanning electron microscope at an acceleration voltage of 2 kV, the number of dark regions having an equivalent circle diameter of 75 nm or more and less than 125 nm is 20 or more and 1500 or less, and standard deviation of the number of the dark regions in a width direction of the surface of the magnetic layer is 400 or less.