High-density reproduction characteristics with MR head for rotary drum in helical-scan tape system

A magneto-resistive (MR) head for a rotary drum in a helical-scan tape system has been developed to realize a high-capacity tape storage system with a high data transfer rate that uses a small cassette. Also, various experimental ME (Metal Evaporated) tapes whose magnetic layer thickness is 0.1 /spl mu/m or less (thin-magnetic-layer ME tapes) for the MR head has been fabricated. Reproduction characteristics of the MR head with the ME tapes was evaluated. The output voltage of the MR head was 20 times that of a conventional inductive head. An areal recording density of 1.2 Gbit/inch/sup 2/ was found to be possible combining the MR head with the thin-magnetic-layer ME tapes whose magnetic layer thickness was 0.09 /spl mu/m.