Patent ID: 7046479

Claim:
A magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus for recording a diagonally formed track along a length of a magnetic tape, a positioning signal on a first area of a track, an information signal on a second area, and a pilot signal on a predetermined area of a track, and for reproducing the first area of a track, said apparatus comprising: a detecting unit for detecting from a reproduction signal the positioning signal recorded on the first area of the track, and a recording/reproducing head having a head width larger than a track width of the track for reproducing information, wherein the apparatus further comprises: an ATF control unit for comparing cross talk levels of pilot signals from adjacent tracks to control tracking during reproduction and performing tracking so that a center of the recording/reproducing head and a center of a track coincide with each other in a width direction; a positioning signal phase target setting unit for detecting a phase difference T 0 between a positioning signal obtained from a track and a switching signal of the recording/reproducing head, and setting a phase advanced by an amount ΔT which corresponds to (Wh−Wt)/2, wherein Wh is head width and Wt is track width, from the positioning signal phase as a positioning signal control phase target value, while the ATF control unit causes the centers of the recording/reproducing head and a track to substantially coincide with each other in the width direction; a positioning signal control unit for performing tracking so that the phase of the positioning signal is equal to the phase target value set by the positioning signal phase target setting unit; and a switching unit for switching tracking of a track from the ATF control unit to the positioning signal control unit during pre-roll reproduction of consecutive recording.