Methods, systems and apparatus for reducing the effects of tape dimensional stability

A head positing system comprising:

• at least one head, each having at least one read element and at least one recording element;
• and
• a controller determining a boundary of the edge of a first data track recorded on the storage medium, controlling a position of a recording element based on the determined virtual boundary of the first track;
• and controlling the recording element to record a second data track on the storage medium by the positioned recording element.

A computer readable medium storing instructions for causing a computer to control recoding of data tracks, the instructions comprising:

• determining a virtual boundary of a first data track recorded on the storage medium;
• causing a recording element to be positioned at a predetermined position based on the determined virtual boundary of the first track;
• and
• causing the positioned recording element to record at the predetermined position a second data track on the storage medium.

A method for reading data tracks stored on a storage medium, comprising:

• determining a first virtual boundary of a first data track recorded on the storage medium;
• determining a second virtual boundary of the first data track recorded on the storage medium;
• and
• positioning a reading element at a center of the first data track based on the determined virtual boundaries.

A system for reading data tracks stored on a storage medium, comprising:

• a plurality of forward reading elements;
• and
• a plurality of backward reading elements,
• wherein said plurality of forward reading elements have different pitches.