Track profile of MR head and its performance in a helical scan tape system

The MR head is being studied for use in helical-scan guardband-less tape systems. These systems need a read head with a wider track width than track pitch, so the track profile of the head is important. We analyzed the track profile of MR heads, and found that fluctuations in the reading signal are not an issue. We then mounted the head on a tape-streamer drive and measured the SNR. We found that the MR head provided an SNR which makes it possible to double the areal density with a margin more than 6 dB over that of an inductive head.