Patent ID: 6856479

Claim:
A recording system for a magnetic tape drive, said magnetic tape drive having at least one motor for moving a magnetic tape longitudinally, having at least one read/write head for reading from and for writing to said magnetic tape while said magnetic tape is moved longitudinally by said at least one motor, and having an interface for receiving data to be written to said magnetic tape, said recording system comprising: at least one buffer coupled to said interface for storing data to be written to said magnetic tape, said data in the form of transactions; at least one recording channel coupled to said at least one buffer and coupled to said at least one read/write head for operating said at least one read/write head for writing transactions from said at least one buffer to said magnetic tape; and a controller coupled to and operating said at least one buffer, said at least one motor, and said at least one recording channel, said controller: detects a synchronizing event for a received transaction stored in said at least one buffer, comprising a synchronized transaction; writes said detected synchronized transaction from said at least one buffer to said magnetic tape; writes separator signals to said magnetic tape following said written synchronized transaction, continuing until a subsequently received transaction is written to said magnetic tape following said separator signals; and repeats said detection of a synchronized received transaction, writing said detected synchronized transaction, and writing said separator signals, for each succeeding said detected synchronized received transaction, while operating said at least one motor to continue to move said tape longitudinally during said repeated writing without stopping.