In a tape recording apparatus having a write head and a read head, a data block is stored by writing to a tape via the write head. The tape moves past the write head in a predetermined direction and writes a first data block responsive to transmitting the first data block from the computer system. The read head then reads the written data block from the tape. For reading, the tape moves past the read head in the same, predetermined direction as the writing, and the reading of the first data block occurs without reversing the tape movement after the writing of the first data block. Portions of the transmitted and read data blocks are compared and a corruption indication is sent responsive to the comparing.