There are two methods of writing servo signals with high speed in a perpendicular magnetic recording medium by magnetic duplication: bit printing (BP) and edge printing (EP). In this study, the influence of spacing between master and slave media on duplication characteristics in both BP and EP has been investigated by the three-dimensional finite-element method. The results show that the duplication characteristic in each method is deteriorated with a large spacing. Also, the influence of a small spacing is stronger in BP than in EP.

The tape deformation due to such particles as wear debris and dust in the head/tape contact region is one of the main causes of the signal quality deterioration in magnetic tape devices. Thus it is significant to make clear the tape deformation due to a particle for realizing higher recording densities. This paper investigates the tape deformation profile generated by a particle through an interferometric experiment and a simulation using a point loaded tape model. A rather good agreement between them is obtained, thereby the simulation is verified appropriate to estimate the tape deformation due to a particle. This paper also describes the relationship between the spacing loss and the particle height, considering the tape deformation profile obtained from the simulation. In addition, the influence of the particle height on the width of the tape deformed area is estimated, which can make a basis of the design of error correction code.