Digital tape transport for selectively recording in either a parallel or

Abstract

A magnetic tape transport for recording digital data. The tape transport is selectively operable in either a parallel write mode for recording concurrently along multiple tracks in a standard format or a high density serial write mode for recording along one track at a time, the multiple tracks being recorded in sequence in a serpentine format. The transport uses standard multitrack read and write heads with each head having N transducers, where N is a positive integer greater than 1, supplemented by an additional multitrack read head or write head with N/2 transducers for N even or (N-1)/2 transducers for N odd, so that for either direction of tape movement, the tape will first pass a write head and then a read head. When moving in a first direction (forward) the tape will move past the write head and then past the first read head. When moving in a second (reverse) direction, the tape will move past the write head and then past the second read head, thus permitting data to be read for verification after writing for either direction of tape movement. When operating in the high density serial mode, the heads are selectively enabled to serially record data along a single track at a time with the tracks being serially recorded in a serpentine format, i.e., in a forward direction along track one, a reverse direction along track two, a forward direction along track three, etc.