System and method for identifying the signal integrity of a signal from a tape drive

A tape drive, comprising:

• a read head operable to create a data stream from media coupled to the tape drive;
• a processor coupled to the read head;
• and
• storage coupled to the process;
• wherein the processor is operable to compare the signal characteristics of a portion of the data stream that is not decoded to a set of signal characteristics stored in storage, and, if it is determined that the read head is introducing errors into the data stream, issue an error message.

A method for identifying errors produced by a tape drive, comprising:

• reading in data from media and creating a data stream therefrom;
• identifying a preamble portion of the data stream, wherein the preamble portion is not decoded;
• identifying the signal characteristics of the preamble portion;
• and
• comparing the signal characteristics of the preamble portion with a set of saved signal characteristics to determine if errors are being introduced into the data stream by the head of the tape drive.