Tape head pitch spacing

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a magnetic head having a first array of read transducers located on a first module, a second array of read transducers located on a second module, an array of write transducers located on a third module positioned between the first and second modules, and a second array of write transducers located on a fourth module positioned between the first and second modules,

wherein a center-to-center pitch of the read transducers in the first array is less than a center-to-center pitch of the write transducers,

wherein a center-to-center pitch of the read transducers in the second array is greater than a center-to-center pitch of the write transducers, and

wherein the read transducers in the first and second arrays are aligned with the write transducers along an intended direction of tape travel thereacross for enabling read-while-write operation.

2. An apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein a centermost read transducer of the first array is aligned with the centermost read transducer of the second array in the intended direction of tape travel.

3. An apparatus as recited in claim 1 , comprising first servo read transducers flanking the first array and second servo read transducers flanking the second array, wherein the first servo read transducers are aligned with the second servo read transducers in the intended direction of tape travel.

4. An apparatus as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:

a drive mechanism for passing a magnetic medium over the arrays; and

a controller electrically coupled to the read transducers and the write transducers.

5. A method, comprising:

in response to receiving a request to perform a readback operation on data tracks of a magnetic recording tape, selecting a first array of read transducers for reading in response to determining a lateral condition of the magnetic recording tape is contracted;

selecting a second array of read transducers for reading in response to determining a lateral condition of the magnetic recording tape is expanded,

wherein a center-to-center pitch of the read transducers in the first array is less than an as-written center-to-center pitch of the data tracks being read,

wherein a center-to-center pitch of the read transducers in the second array is greater than the as-written center-to-center pitch of the data tracks being read; and

buffering data received from the first array during performance of the readback operation, and concatenating the data received from the first array with data received from the second array in response to transitioning from the first array to the second array.

6. A method as recited in claim 5 , comprising detecting the lateral condition of the magnetic recording tape.

7. A method as recited in claim 6 , wherein the lateral condition is detected using servo read transducers.

8. A method as recited in claim 7 , comprising, during performance of the readback operation, transitioning from one array to the other array based on the lateral condition detected using the servo read transducers.

9. A method as recited in claim 5 , wherein the lateral condition is determined at least periodically during performance of the readback operation.

10. A method as recited in claim 5 , comprising determining the lateral condition of the tape based on a position along the tape where the reading begins.

11. A method as recited in claim 5 , comprising using tension control to adjust the lateral condition of the magnetic recording tape during performance of the readback operation.

12. An apparatus, comprising:

a magnetic head having a first array of read transducers, a first array of write transducers, a second array of read transducers and a second array of write transducers,

wherein a center-to-center pitch of the read transducers in the first array of read transducers is less than a center-to-center pitch of the read transducers in the second array of read transducers,

wherein a center-to-center pitch of the write transducers in the first array of write transducers is less than a center-to-center pitch of the write transducers in the second array of write transducers, and

wherein the read transducers in the first and second arrays of read transducers are aligned with the write transducers in the first and second arrays of write transducers along an intended direction of tape travel thereacross.

13. An apparatus as recited in claim 12 , further comprising:

a drive mechanism for passing a magnetic medium over the arrays; and

a controller electrically coupled to the read transducers and write transducers.

14. An apparatus as recited in claim 13 , wherein the controller is configured to select between the first arrays and the second arrays to perform read while write operations based on a lateral condition of the magnetic recording tape.