Recording characteristics at a channel rate over 300 mb/s in a helical-scan tape system

Recording characteristics at high-linear density were investigated using a spin-stand tape tester. Low-noise metal obliquely evaporated tape with a 40-nm magnetic layer was used. Read signal level and nonlinear transition shift of a thin-film head was compared with that of a metal-in-gap head. A prototype helical-scan tape drive with a thin-film head and a giant magnetoresistive head was developed to investigate the recording characteristics at channel rates over 300 Mb/s. A sufficient signal-to-noise ratio of 18 dB was obtained at a channel rate of 300 Mb/s with a read track width of 0.8 /spl mu/m and a linear density of 376 kFRPI.