Calibration of magnetic tape drive

A method of calibrating a helical scan magnetic tape drive, the method comprising:

• (1) loading a calibration tape into a tape path of the helical scan drive, the calibration tape having a calibration stripe recorded thereon;
• (2) using a read head to obtain a calibration signal waveform from the calibration stripe while the calibration tape has essentially no linear velocity in the tape drive;
• (3) stepping the calibration tape a predetermined distance in a linear direction in the tape path, and then repeating step (2) to obtain another calibration signal waveform;
• (4) repeating step (3) a plurality of times in order to obtain a series of calibration signal waveforms;
• (5) for each calibration signal waveform in the series, obtaining a voltage measurement at a predetermined position within each waveform;
• (6) determining a maximum one of the voltage measurements obtained in step (5);
• and,
• (7) using the maximum one of the voltage measurements to generate a measured overlap scaling factor indicative of an overlap of the read head relative to the calibration stripe.

A method of calibrating a helical scan magnetic tape drive, the method comprising:

• (1) loading a calibration tape into a tape path of the helical scan drive, the calibration tape having a calibration stripe recorded thereon;
• (2) imparting a slow creeping linear velocity to the calibration tape;
• (3) using a read head to obtain a calibration signal waveform from the calibration stripe while the calibration tape moves at the slow creeping linear velocity;
• (4) periodically repeating step (3) to obtain a series of calibration signal waveforms;
• (5) for each calibration signal waveform in the series, obtaining a voltage measurement at a predetermined position within each waveform;
• (6) determining a maximum one of the voltage measurements obtained in step (5);
• and,
• (7) using the maximum one of the voltage measurements to generate a measured overlap scaling factor indicative of an overlap of the read head relative to the calibration stripe.