Apparatus and method for formatting and recording digital data on magnetic tape

摘要

Apparatus and method are disclosed for formatting and recording digital information. Recording is effected by discrete stripes on 8 mm magnetic tape using a helical scan arrangement that enables a high recording density and a low error rate. Formatting in the data area of each stripe includes recording of digital information within preamble, data block, and postamble sections. The preamble section provides frequency/phase and location referencing, the data block section includes a plurality of physical data blocks each of which are divided into sub- blocks that include synchronizing and identifying information along with data to be recorded, and the postamble section ensures compatibility of physical alignment between the recording heads and magnetic tape.