Patent ID: 6898036

Claim:
A method for storing data on a magnetic tape by positioning a write head over the moving magnetic tape and providing a write current to the write head, the method comprising: detecting a writing errors wherein the writing error is indicated by at least one of a data read back check and write head tracking information; measuring span of the writing error; disregarding the writing error when the writing error is indicated by the data read back check and the span of the writing error is less than a first threshold wherein the first threshold is based on the span of the writing error and capability of error correction information to recover mis-recorded data; suspending the write current in response to the writing error while allowing the magnetic tape to continue moving when the writing error is indicated by die write bead tracking information; repositioning data that would have been stored during the span of the writing error when the span of the writing error is greater than the first threshold; repositioning the magnetic tape when the span of the writing error is greater than a second threshold wherein the second threshold is greater than the first threshold and is based on the span of the writing error and capacity of the magnetic tape; and supplying the write current to write die repositioned data when the span of the writing error is greater than at least one of the first threshold and the second threshold.