Compensation for expansion and contraction across the width of a magnetic tape

A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon program instructions programmed to perform:

• receiving a plurality of data units from a host computer;
• storing the plurality of data units in a buffer memory;
• generating a plurality of data segments comprising a respectively corresponding plurality of subsets of the plurality of data units;
• receiving a plurality of dataset information tables (DSITs) respectively corresponding to the plurality of data segments;
• appending the plurality of DSITs to the respectively corresponding plurality of data segments, to create a plurality of datasets stored in the buffer memory;
• determining a number of datasets, of the plurality of datasets stored in the buffer memory, exceeds a threshold value;
• and
• in response to determining the number of datasets exceeds the threshold value, stopping the appending the plurality of DSITs to the respectively corresponding plurality of data segments.

A computer system comprising:

• a processor set;
• and
• a computer readable storage medium;
• wherein:
• the processor set is structured, located, connected and/or programmed to run program instructions stored on the computer readable storage medium;
• and
• the program instructions include instructions programmed to perform:
• receiving a plurality of data units from a host computer;
• storing the plurality of data units in a buffer memory;
• generating a plurality of data segments comprising a respectively corresponding plurality of subsets of the plurality of data units;
• receiving a plurality of dataset information tables (DSITs) respectively corresponding to the plurality of data segments;
• appending the plurality of DSITs to the respectively corresponding plurality of data segments, to create a plurality of datasets stored in the buffer memory;
• determining a number of datasets, of the plurality of datasets stored in the buffer memory, exceeds a threshold value;
• and
• in response to determining the number of datasets exceeds the threshold value, stopping the appending the plurality of DSITs to the respectively corresponding plurality of data segments.