Dynamic gain control for use with adaptive equalizers

A magnetic tape drive, comprising a controller configured to:

• direct first data through a first finite impulse response (FIR) gain module in response to a determination that the first data is being read from a magnetic tape medium in an asynchronous mode to control FIR gain of the first data;
• and
• direct second data through a second FIR gain module in response to a determination that the second data is being read from the magnetic tape medium in a synchronous mode to control FIR gain of the second data, wherein a FIR gain value of the second FIR gain module is automatically controlled.

A magnetic tape drive, comprising a controller configured to:

• direct data through either a first finite impulse response (FIR) gain module or a second FIR gain module to control FIR gain of the data depending on a mode used to read the data from a magnetic tape medium,
• wherein the first FIR gain module is utilized when reading the data from the magnetic tape medium in an asynchronous mode, and
• wherein the second FIR gain module is utilized when reading the data from the magnetic tape medium in a synchronous mode.