Segmented tape head

A data storage system for a magnetic tape, comprising:

• a segmented tape head module having a beam substrate and an array of transducers carried on the beam substrate wherein the beam substrate has a first beam substrate segment member and a second beam substrate segment member pivotally coupled to the first beam substrate segment member at a pivot angle, each beam substrate segment member carrying a linear subarray of the array of transducers;
• a processor;
• and
• a computer readable storage medium, implemented in the data storage system, and
• having computer readable program code embodied therein that when executed performs operations, the operations comprising:
• transferring data between the tape head module and the tape, wherein the transferring data includes at least one of reading from and writing to data tracks of the tape;
• and
• controlling relative pivotal motion between the first and second beam substrate segment members to align transducers carried by the beam substrate segment members with the data of the tape as data is transferred between the tape head module and data tracks of the tape.

A computer-implemented method, tape;

• comprising:
• transferring data between a segmented tape head module of a tape head and magnetic tape of a data storage system, wherein the transferring data includes at least one of reading from and writing to data tracks of the tape;
• and
• controlling relative pivotal motion at a pivot angle between pivotally coupled first and second beam substrate segment members of a beam substrate of the segmented tape head module, to align transducers carried by the beam substrate segment members with the data tracks of the tape as data is transferred between the tape head module and data tracks of the tape.