Patent ID: 7265935

Claim:
A method for operating a tape drive, said tape drive having a base tape velocity for moving a magnetic tape along a tape head and producing first tape head position signals from said tape head at a first sample frequency that is proportional to said base tape velocity, said method comprising: controlling a position of said tape head using a control system that processes said first tape head position signals that are synchronous with said first sample frequency, said control system comprising a compensator with a maximum phase response at a first crossover frequency; moving said magnetic tape at a second tape velocity that is a multiple of said base tape velocity; producing second tape head position signals from said tape head at a second sample frequency that is proportional to said first sample frequency multiplied by said multiple; and in response to said multiple being an integer greater than one: controlling said position of said tape head using said control system, said control system processing said second tape head position signals that are synchronous with said first sample frequency and discarding said second tape head position signals that are not synchronous with said first sample frequency.