Symmetrical magnetic head and magnetic media for use with such head

An apparatus, comprising:

• a magnetic head having an array of transducers and a second array of transducers aligned along a same longitudinal axis, wherein a first end of the second array is positioned adjacent a second end of the array on the longitudinal axis of the arrays;
• the array comprising data elements, at least two first servo readers positioned toward a first end of the array and at least two second servo readers positioned toward the second end of the array;
• and
• the second array comprising at least two third servo readers positioned toward a second end of the second array, the second array comprising second data elements positioned between the second servo readers of the array and the third servo readers of the second array,
• wherein the array is symmetrical about a centerpoint thereof, such that a distance between a center of an innermost one of the first servo readers and a center of the data element closest thereto is the same as a distance between a center of an innermost one of the second servo readers and a center of the data element closest thereto, and such that a distance between a center of an outermost one of the first servo readers and the center of the data element closest thereto is the same as a distance between a center of an outermost one of the second servo readers and the center of the data element closest thereto, and
• wherein a distance between the center of the innermost second servo reader and a center of the data element of the second array closest thereto is the same as the distance between the center of the outermost first servo reader and the center of the data element closest thereto, wherein a distance between a center of the outermost second servo reader and a center of the data element of the second array closest thereto is the same as the distance between the center of the innermost second servo reader and the center of the data element closest thereto.

A product, comprising:

• a magnetic tape having a plurality of servo bands extending along a longitudinal axis of the magnetic tape,
• wherein a width WSB.Tape of each of the servo bands satisfies the following equation:
• W
• SB
• .
• Tape
• ∼
• W
• EP
• .
• Tape
• 2
• to an accuracy of 10%, where:
• WEP.Tape is an average pitch of elements on a head used to read and write data and is given as:
• W
• E
• ⁢
• P
• .
• T
• ⁢
• a
• ⁢
• p
• ⁢
• e
• ∼
• (
• W
• T
• ⁢
• a
• ⁢
• p
• ⁢
• e
• -
• 2
• ·
• W
• E
• ⁢
• d
• ⁢
• g
• ⁢
• e
• (
• N
• E
• ·
• N
• D
• ⁢
• B
• +
• (
• N
• D
• ⁢
• B
• +
• 1
• )
• 2
• )
• )
• where:
• NE is the number of elements used to write each data band,
• NDB is the number of databands specified by a format of the magnetic tape,
• WEdge is a width of an edge band of the magnetic tape where no data and no servo pattern is written as specified by the format, and
• WTape is a width of the magnetic tape.