Detecting damaged areas on magnetic tape based on measuring a number of servo errors

A computer program product, comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions readable and/or executable by a processor to cause the processor to:

• receive, by the processor, a first error location on a magnetic tape where a first error occurred;
• determine, by the processor, one or more areas on the magnetic tape to be examined based on the first error location;
• independent of a read and/or write operation, instruct, by the processor, a tape drive to induce relative motion between a tape head and the magnetic tape such that the tape head is positioned adjacent to each of the respective one or more areas in turn;
• identify, by the processor, each of the one or more areas having a respective number of measured servo errors which exceeds a threshold value as a damaged area of the magnetic tape;
• and
• determine, by the processor, one or more areas on a second wrap of the magnetic tape to be examined, wherein the second wrap is adjacent to a first wrap of the magnetic tape which includes the first error location, wherein the one or more areas are determined using a predetermined algorithm.

A tape drive, comprising:

• a controller;
• and
• logic integrated with and/or executable by the controller, the logic being configured to cause the controller to:
• receive, by the controller, a first error location on a magnetic tape where a first error occurred;
• determine, by the controller, one or more areas on the magnetic tape to be examined based on the first error location;
• independent of a read and/or write operation, instruct, by the controller, a tape drive to induce relative motion between a tape head and the magnetic tape such that the tape head is positioned adjacent to each of the respective one or more areas in turn;
• identify, by the controller, each of the one or more areas having a respective number of measured servo errors which exceeds a threshold value as a damaged area of the magnetic tape;
• and
• determine, by the controller, one or more areas on a second wrap of the magnetic tape to be examined, wherein the second wrap is adjacent to a first wrap of the magnetic tape which includes the first error location.