Abstract:
A method for determining the servo track pair position and longitudinal tape position for a tape using dedicated servo format, said tape including at least one set of data tracks and dedicated servo tracks, wherein adjacent servo tracks are defined by longitudinal lines through the edges of erased or non-recorded tape portions, is characterized in that information about servo track pair numbers and/or servo sample numbers is recorded into said tape portions and is decoded and read back together with signals from said servo track, wherein the information is recorded in a digital manner by using a digital block format of data blocks requiring preferentially less bytes per block than a data block provided on said data tracks. If information about longitudinal tape position is not required, an analog manner using a fixed set of predetermined frequencies.