Two dimensional magnetic recording system, devices and methods

A system comprising:

• a storage apparatus comprising a magnetic media disk, which is mounted on a spindle and motor assembly, and a head assembly comprising at least a first read head and a second read head, wherein the first read head and the second read head are offset from each other in each of two dimensions;
• and
• a storage controller coupled with the storage apparatus, the storage controller comprising a first read channel to process a first input signal obtained from the magnetic media disk of the storage apparatus using the first read head, and a second read channel to process a second input signal obtained from the magnetic media disk of the storage apparatus using the second read head;
• wherein the first read channel comprises a first analog to digital converter, the second read channel comprises a second analog to digital converter;
• and
• wherein the storage controller comprises a single digital timing loop for both the first read channel and the second read channel, the single digital timing loop being configured to control interpolation of timing of sampling for the first and second analog to digital converters, the storage controller comprises a two dimensional equalizer coupled with output lines of the first read channel and the second read channel, and the storage controller is configured to account for a fractional timing difference between the first input signal and the second input signal, the fractional timing difference being a fractional amount, less than one, of a single clock cycle of the device.

A method comprising:

• processing, in a first read channel, a first input signal obtained from a storage medium using a first read head, wherein the first read channel comprises a first analog to digital converter;
• processing, in a second read channel, a second input signal obtained from the storage medium using a second read head, wherein the second read channel comprises a second analog to digital converter, and the first read head and the second read head are offset from each other in each of two dimensions;
• controlling interpolation of timing of sampling for the first and second analog to digital converters using a single digital timing loop for both the first read channel and the second read channel;
• performing two dimensional equalization on outputs of the first read channel and the second read channel;
• and
• accounting for a fractional timing difference between the first input signal and the second input signal, the fractional timing difference being a fractional amount, less than one, of a single clock cycle.