Various illustrative aspects are directed to a data storage device, comprising one or more disks; an actuator mechanism configured to position one or more heads proximate to one or more disk surfaces of the one or more disks; and one or more processing devices, comprising an actuator mechanism control system configured for controlling the actuator mechanism. The processing devices are configured to: apply coefficients for a multi-rate notch filter to a servo control loop; measure a multi-rate error rejection transfer function; determine whether a peak of the multi-rate error rejection transfer function is greater than a multi-rate error rejection transfer function threshold; and modify, responsively to determining that the peak of the multi-rate error rejection transfer function is not greater than the multi-rate error rejection transfer function threshold, the parameters of the multi-rate notch filter based at least in part on the peak of the multi-rate error rejection transfer function.

Various illustrative aspects are directed to a data storage device, comprising one or more disks; an actuator mechanism configured to position one or more heads proximate to one or more disk surfaces of the one or more disks; and one or more processing devices, comprising an actuator mechanism control system configured for controlling the actuator mechanism. The processing devices are configured to: apply coefficients for a multi-rate notch filter to a servo control loop; measure a multi-rate error rejection transfer function; determine whether a peak of the multi-rate error rejection transfer function is greater than a multi-rate error rejection transfer function threshold; and modify, responsively to determining that the peak of the multi-rate error rejection transfer function is not greater than the multi-rate error rejection transfer function threshold, the parameters of the multi-rate notch filter based at least in part on the peak of the multi-rate error rejection transfer function.

A tape drive may calculate a slope for each of the timing-based-servo marks in a timing-based-servo group. The timing-based-servo marks are arranged in one or more M-patterns. The tape drive may average the slope for each of the timing-based-servo marks across the one or more M-patterns. The tape drive may generate a least-squares assessment of the averaged slope. The tape drive may determine, from the least-squares assessment, whether the averaged slope is demonstrative of tape-creep.

In a method, read signals from each of a plurality of read transducers of a data head are buffered for each of a plurality of cross-track positions of the head relative to a data track. The buffered read signals are processed to establish a quality metric for each of the read signals and at least one combination read signal comprising at least two of the read signals. A data recovery cross-track position and a reader configuration comprising one or more of the read transducers are identified based on the quality metrics. A data read operation is then performed with the data head in the data recovery cross-track position using the read signals from the identified reader configuration.

In a method, read signals from each of a plurality of read transducers of a data head are buffered for each of a plurality of cross-track positions of the head relative to a data track. The buffered read signals are processed to establish a quality metric for each of the read signals and at least one combination read signal comprising at least two of the read signals. A data recovery cross-track position and a reader configuration comprising one or more of the read transducers are identified based on the quality metrics. A data read operation is then performed with the data head in the data recovery cross-track position using the read signals from the identified reader configuration.