Abstract: A cartridge carrier has a base having a recessed plate, a top surface, and a bottom surface, an interposer board coupled to the base at the top surface, a motorized eject mechanism coupled to the interposer board and the base, a slider plate coupled to the base at the bottom surface and the motorized eject mechanism, and a button bar coupled to the base at the bottom surface, the button bar having a switch tab to contact the motorized eject mechanism.

Abstract: A tape drive head cleaner has a brush that is driven to sweep over a write/read head in the direction of longitudinal grooves on the write/read head. Debris that are within the grooves are swept out of the grooves by the movement of the brush in the direction of the grooves. The brush is carried by a tape drive head cleaner mechanism that includes a lead screw driven by a stepper motor that engages the half nut attached to a brush carriage that carries the brush. The brush carriage is guided by fixed guide shafts so that the brush is precisely swept over the write/read head.

Abstract: A system and method for damping the motion of the head of a tape drive is disclosed. The method includes measuring the position of the head over time with a position sensor; damping the motion of the head based on the measured position of the head over time; and tuning the damping by varying a parameter of the position sensor.

Abstract: A head actuator assembly includes a coarse positioner base assembly that is mounted on a guide shaft and an anti-rotation shaft and provides increased structural rigidity due to a four-point support and spring loading of the coarse positioner base against the anti-rotation shaft. A two-part head-carriage and voice coil holder system permits different materials to be used for the head-carriage and the voice coil holder, obviating structural problems of a single-structured head-carriage and coil-holder system. A flexible printed circuit bracket eases manufacture and allows flexible printed circuits to be slid into the bracket and retained in place without the need for locating tabs and screws.

Abstract: A sensor for measuring the position of the head of a tape drive is disclosed. The sensor includes a light emitter movably connected to the head; a light sensor movably connected to the head and rigidly connected to the light emitter and located to receive a beam of light from said light emitter; and, a light interrupter rigidly connected to the head and located for interrupting the light beam.

Abstract: A tape drive is provided having a pair of stationary guide assemblies disposed symmetrically about the magnetic read/write head. Each of the stationary guide assemblies has a mounting portion and a separate guide surface portion mounted on the mounting portion. The mounting portion may be made of a plastic and the guide surface portion of a ceramic, for example. A spring arrangement with pressure pads is mounted directly on the mounting portion, and applies pressure to a top edge of a tape during guiding of the tape.

Abstract: A control system and method for operating a system comprising a host computer, a buffer, a tape drive and a tape is provided. The method includes writing data to the tape while the tape is traveling at a first speed; stopping the tape; determining an optimum second speed to drive the tape to travel; and, thereafter driving the tape to travel at the second speed while writing data to the tape.

Abstract: A dual hub take-reel for a tape drive comprises an inner hub operatively connectable to a motor and a flexible leader connected at a first to the inner hub so as to be wound on to the inner hub when driven, to rotate by the motor. An outer hub is disposed about the inner hub and has an opening through which the flexible leader extends. The outer hub is arranged on the inner hub and is selectively freely rotatable about the inner hub or locked against the inner hub to rotate with the inner hub. A locking element is responsive to pressure supplied by a tape wrap to press against the inner hub and lock the outer hub to the inner hub by interaction of an engagement surface against the inner hub.

Abstract: A cartridge handling system and method initialize a data storage cartridge having rewritable media and a cartridge memory for tamper resistant write once recording. A write-once flag is written to a lockable section of the cartridge memory also having a cartridge memory serial number, and the section locked to read-only. A write-once flag and the serial number are written to a required data set of the rewritable media, both thereby appearing in both locations of the cartridge.

Abstract: An arrangement and method for compensating for the written-in tracking error for a linear tape drive filters out spatial error components of a position error signal (PES). The position information contained within A, B pairs of servo stripes, and within C, D pairs of stripes is preserved. The timing between the A and C bursts and the C and A bursts is filtered, such as by low pass filtering, to filter out the error that can be written-in by a servo writer. The timing signal for the A, B bursts and C, D bursts are divided by the filtered timing signals for the AC and CA timing signals, respectively. This ratio provides the filtered PES signal used by a head positioner to precisely position the head with respect to the tape.