Pause strategy for magnetic tape recording

A helical scan tape recorder ( 30 ) comprises a rotatable scanner ( 84 ) and a transport system for transporting magnetic tape proximate the rotatable scanner in a manner so that information is recorded during a revolution of the scanner. A controller performs a pause routine ( 120 ) for pausing during a recording operation on tape. The pause routine, when executed, performs the steps of: determining a tape pause position reference value indicative of a pre-pause last recording position on the tape; recording an erase signal on the tape after the pre-pause last recording position; rewinding the tape; transporting the tape in a forward direction and obtaining a current tape position value; determining when the current tape position value reaches a predetermined value relative to the tape pause position reference value; and at beginning of a next revolution of the scanner, commencing recording of one or more post-pause stripes on the tape. In an example implementation, the predetermined value relative to the tape pause position reference value is a sum of the tape pause position reference value and an offset.