Reading tape with transverse distortion

A system for reading information recorded on tape having at least one servo track and at least one data track, the system comprising:

• a tape head comprising at least a first module and a second module, each of the first module and the second module having at least one read element for reading data written on the tape, the tape head having an azimuth angle relative to the tape, the azimuth angle creating a transverse offset between each read element on the first module and a corresponding read element on the second module;
• a plurality of servo read elements, each servo read element located on one of the modules, each servo read element generating a servo read signal based on reading a servo track recorded on the tape;
• and
• control logic in communication with the servo read elements, the control logic determining tape position error based on the servo read signals and determining whether to read the data track with the first module read element or the second module corresponding read element based on the determined tape position error.

A method for reading data recorded on tape, the data recorded as a plurality of data tracks, the data read by a tape head having at least a first module and a second module, the first module having a plurality of read elements and the second module having a plurality of corresponding read elements, the tape head forming an azimuth angle with the tape, the azimuth angle creating a transverse offset between a data read element on the first module and a corresponding data read element on the second module, the method comprising:

• grouping each data read element on the first module into a first group and a second group;
• grouping each data read element on the second module into the first group if the data read element corresponds with a first module first group data read element and grouping each data read element on the second module into the second group if the data read element corresponds with a first module second group data read element;
• determining a measure of transverse distortion on the tape;
• reading at least one data track with a first module first group data read element;
• and
• reading at least one additional data track, the additional data track read with either a data read element from the first module second group or a data read element from the second module second group based on the determined measure of transverse distortion.