Patent ID: 8760788

Claim:
A tape drive system, comprising: a magnetic head, comprising at least one servo sensor for sensing a lateral position of the magnetic head with respect to at least one defined servo track of a longitudinal tape; a tape motion controller configured to operate at least one drive motor to move the longitudinal tape longitudinally past the magnetic head; a fine actuator configured to translate the magnetic head laterally with respect to the longitudinal tape; a coarse actuator configured to translate the fine actuator laterally with respect to the longitudinal tape; and a control configured to: sense a first servo sensor of the at least one servo sensor; determine position error between the magnetic head and a desired position related to the at least one defined servo track; provide signals to operate the fine actuator to translate the magnetic head laterally in a manner to reduce the determined position error; transition from a write state to a monitor state when the determined position error is greater than a threshold error value; transition from the monitor state to a stop write state when the determined position error is greater than the threshold error value for a first predetermined period; and transition from the monitor state to the write state when the determined position error is less than the threshold error value for a second predetermined period, wherein write operations are enabled and signals are provided to operate the fine actuator to translate the magnetic head laterally in a manner to reduce the detmained position error while in the write state, wherein write operations are disabled and signals are provided to operate the fine actuator to translate the magnetic head laterally in a manner to reduce the determined position error while in the monitor state, and wherein write operations are disabled and signals are not provided to operate the fine actuator while in the stop write state.