JPH09237485A - Tape cassette and recording / playback device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) An object of the present invention is to improve reliability as a recording / reproducing system by preventing an error in data read from a non-volatile memory provided in a tape cassette. When a code error is detected based on the error detection code when an error detection code is added to the data to be stored in the non-volatile memory and the data in the non-volatile memory is read by the recording / reproducing apparatus. In order to read the data from the non-volatile memory again (F101 to F105), correct data can be taken into the recording / reproducing apparatus.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tape cassette provided with a non-volatile memory and a recording / reproducing apparatus capable of recording / reproducing corresponding to such a tape cassette.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a so-called tape streamer drive is known as a recording / reproducing apparatus capable of recording / reproducing digital data on a magnetic tape. Such a tape streamer drive can have an enormous recording capacity of, for example, several tens to several hundreds of gigabytes, depending on the tape length of a tape cassette as a medium. It is widely used for purposes such as backing up data recorded on media. Further, it is also suitable when used for storing image data having a large data size.

As the tape streamer drive as described above, for example, a tape cassette of 8 mm VTR is used as a recording medium, and a helical scan method by a rotary head is adopted to record / reproduce data. Proposed.

Further, it has been previously proposed by the applicant of the present invention to provide a nonvolatile memory for a tape cassette which is a medium corresponding to the tape streamer drive. Then, for this non-volatile memory, for example, various information such as the manufacturing date and time of the tape cassette, the manufacturing location, the magnetic tape length, the tape thickness, etc. It is considered to store information on various usage histories associated with reproduction. Based on such various information stored in the non-volatile memory, the tape streamer drive and the host computer that exchanges data with the tape streamer drive appropriately perform necessary operations related to data recording / reproduction, data processing, and the like. Can be executed.

[0005]

By the way, in order to enable the tape streamer drive or the host computer to always perform an appropriate operation based on the data stored in the nonvolatile memory as described above, It is preferable that when the data is read from the extensible memory to the tape streamer drive side, no error is present in the read data and correct data is always taken in. However, in practice, noise is superimposed on the transmission path that supplies data from the non-volatile memory to the tape streamer drive due to some factor, and data transmission between the non-volatile memory and the tape streamer drive is performed by physical contact points. In this case, there is a possibility that an error may occur in the read data due to contact failure or the like. Therefore, in consideration of the above problems, the present invention aims to improve reliability as a recording / reproducing system by reading data from a non-volatile memory so as to obtain data with as few code errors as possible. And

[0006]

Therefore, in a tape cassette provided with a magnetic tape on which magnetic recording and magnetic reproduction are performed, a non-volatile memory for storing required information related to the tape cassette is provided, and a non-volatile memory is provided. Error detection code or error correction code is added to the data stored in the static memory.

Further, as a recording / reproducing apparatus, a tape cassette provided with a magnetic tape and a non-volatile memory is used.
It is possible to record or reproduce data on the magnetic tape and read data from the non-volatile memory, and detect whether there is an error in the read data based on the error detection code added to the data read from the non-volatile memory. It was decided to configure with an error detection unit capable of doing so. Alternatively, an error correction circuit capable of performing error correction on the read data based on the error correction code added to the data read from the non-volatile memory is provided.

Further, as a recording / reproducing apparatus, a tape cassette provided with a magnetic tape and a non-volatile memory is used.
At least recording / reproduction on the magnetic tape and writing of data to the non-volatile memory are possible, and an error detection code addition unit capable of adding an error detection code to the data to be written to the non-volatile memory, or It is configured to include an error correction code addition unit that can add an error correction code.

According to the above construction, the nonvolatile memory provided in the tape cassette can store and hold the data to which the error detection code or the error correction code is added, and at the time of reading the data from the nonvolatile memory. It is possible to perform error detection based on the error detection code and appropriately perform appropriate processing, or to perform error correction on read data based on the error correction code to restore erroneous data.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. Here, the applicant previously made it possible to use a tape cassette provided with a non-volatile memory as a recording medium, and to perform recording / reproduction as a recording / reproducing device corresponding to the tape cassette provided with the non-volatile memory. Although various inventions have been proposed for the tape streamer drive, the present embodiment provides a data storage system including such a tape cassette with a memory and a tape streamer drive capable of supporting the same. It is assumed to have been applied. Note that, hereinafter, the nonvolatile memory provided in the tape cassette will be referred to as MIC (Memory In Cassete).

The description of the following embodiments will be made in the following order. 1. Structure of tape cassette 2. Configuration of recording / reproducing apparatus 3. Structure of data recorded on magnetic tape 4. 4. Data structure of MIC (a) Data structure of entire MIC (b) Structure example of MIC data block (1) (c) Structure example of MIC data block (2) Recording / playback device operation

1. Configuration of Tape Cassette First, a tape cassette corresponding to the tape streamer drive of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. 2 conceptually shows the internal structure of the tape cassette, and reels 2A and 2B are provided inside the tape cassette 1 shown in this figure, and a magnetic tape having a tape width of 8 mm is provided between the reels 2A and 2B. 3 is wound. The tape cassette 1 is provided with a non-volatile memory MIC4, and a power supply terminal 5A, a data input terminal 5B, a clock input terminal 5C, a ground terminal 5D, etc. are derived from the module of the MIC4. As will be described later, the MIC 4 manages the manufacturing date and manufacturing location of each tape cassette, the thickness and length of the tape, the material, the information related to the usage history of the recorded data of each partition, the user information and the like. It is stored as information.

For example, in a normal tape streamer drive system, for example, management information of recording data for each partition is written to, for example, a head position of a partition on a magnetic tape. The management information at the head position of the partition is once accessed, and then the recording / reproducing operation is started. On the other hand, in the tape streamer drive system of the present embodiment, when the tape cassette is simply loaded in the device side, M
It is possible to read the management information of the recording data from the IC4. For this reason, it is possible to improve the access speed, which was difficult with a normal tape streamer drive.

FIG. 3 is a view showing an example of the appearance of the tape cassette 1, in which the entire housing includes an upper case 6, a lower case 7,
And a guard panel 8 and is basically the same in structure as a tape cassette used for a normal 8 mm VTR. The label surface 9 on the side surface of the tape cassette 1 is provided with terminal pins 10A, 10B, 10C, and 10D. The power supply terminal 5A, the data input terminal 5B, the clock input terminal 5C, and the ground described in FIG. Terminal 5D
And are connected to each. That is, in the present embodiment, the tape cassette 1 includes the tape streamer drive described below and the terminal pins 10A and 10A.
It is assumed that data signals and the like are mutually transmitted through physical contact via B, 10C, and 10D.

2. Configuration of Recording / Reproducing Device Next, the configuration of the tape streamer drive of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. This tape streamer drive uses a tape cassette with a tape width of 8 mm,
Recording on magnetic tape by helical scan method /
It is supposed to play. In this figure, the rotary drum 11 is provided with, for example, two recording heads 12A and 12B and two reproducing heads 13A and 13B. The recording heads 12A and 12B have a structure in which two gaps having different azimuth angles are located close to each other. Similarly, the reproducing heads 13A and 13B also have a structure in which two gaps having different azimuth angles are arranged extremely close to each other.

The rotary drum 11 is rotated by the drum motor 11 and the magnetic tape 3 pulled out from the tape cassette 1 is wound around it. The magnetic tape 3
Are fed by a capstan motor and a pinch roller (not shown). The drum motor 14 is driven by the control of the mechanical controller 17. The mechanical controller 17 performs servo control and tracking control of the drum motor 14, and is bidirectionally connected to a system controller 15 that executes control processing of the entire system.

In this tape streamer drive, a SCSI interface 20 is used for data input / output. For example, when recording data, a fixed-length record (reco
Data is sequentially input via the SCSI interface 20 in a transmission data unit called rd) and supplied to the compression / expansion circuit 21. In such a tape streamer drive system, there is also a mode in which data is transmitted from the host computer 25 in units of variable-length data sets, but the description thereof is omitted here.

In the compression / expansion circuit 21, if necessary, the input data is compressed by a predetermined method. As an example of the compression method, for example, LZ
If a compression method using codes is adopted, in this method, a special code is assigned to a character string processed in the past and stored in the form of a dictionary. Then, the character string input subsequently is compared with the contents of the dictionary, and if the character string of the input data matches the code of the dictionary, this character string data is replaced with the code of the dictionary. Data of the input character string that does not match the dictionary is sequentially given a new code and registered in the dictionary. In this way, the data of the input character string is registered in the dictionary, and the character string data is replaced with the code of the dictionary, whereby the data compression is performed.

The output of the compression / expansion circuit 21 is supplied to the buffer controller 22, and the control operation of the buffer controller 22 controls the compression / expansion circuit 2.
1 is temporarily stored in the buffer memory 23. Under the control of the buffer controller 22, the data stored in the buffer memory 23 is finally treated as a fixed-length unit corresponding to 40 tracks of a magnetic tape called a group as described later. This data is supplied to the modulation / demodulation circuit 18.

In the ECC / modulation / demodulation circuit 18, an error correction code is added to the input data, and the input data is modulated so as to be suitable for magnetic recording and supplied to the RF amplifier 19. The recording signal amplified by the RF amplifier 19 is supplied to the recording heads 12A and 12B so that data is recorded on the magnetic tape 3.

The data reproducing operation will be briefly described. The data recorded on the magnetic tape 3 is reproduced by the reproducing head 13.
It is read out as an RF reproduction signal by A and 13B, and its reproduction output is supplied to the ECC / modulation / demodulation circuit 18 via the RF amplifier 19, and after undergoing demodulation processing, error correction processing is performed. The demodulated output of the ECC / modulation / demodulation circuit 18 is temporarily stored in the buffer memory under the control of the buffer controller 22, and is supplied from this to the compression / decompression circuit 21. In the compression / expansion circuit 21, the compression / expansion circuit 2 is used for recording based on the judgment of the system controller 15.
If the data is compressed by 1, the data decompression process is performed here, and if it is the non-compressed data, the data decompression process is not performed and the data is directly passed and output. The output data of the compression / expansion circuit 21 is output to the host computer 25 as reproduction data via the SCSI interface 20.

Further, in this figure, the MIC 4 is shown together with the magnetic tape 3 of the tape cassette. This MIC4
When the tape cassette body is loaded in the tape streamer drive, the data is connected to the system controller 15 via the terminal pins shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the error detection code circuit 16 is provided for the data line between the MIC 4 and the system controller 15. When writing data from the system controller 15 to the MIC 4, for example, the error detection code circuit 16 adds an error detection code according to a predetermined method to the write data under the control of the system controller 15. When reading data from the MIC 4, the system controller 15 detects the presence or absence of a data error based on the error detection code added to the read data.

Information is mutually transmitted between the MIC 4 and the external host computer 25 using SCSI commands. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide a dedicated line between the MIC 4 and the host computer 25,
As a result, the data exchange between the tape cassette and the host computer 25 can be established only by the SCSI interface.

3. Structure of Data Recorded on Magnetic Tape Next, a data format applied to the data storage system including the tape streamer drive and the tape cassette described above will be schematically described. FIG.
Indicates the structure of data recorded on the magnetic tape 3. In FIG. 4A, one magnetic tape 3 is schematically shown. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4B, one magnetic tape 3 is divided into partitions (Partition).
The number of partitions can be set and managed up to 256 in the system of the present embodiment. Further, each partition shown in this figure is managed by being given a partition number as described as partitions # 0, # 1, # 2, # 3 ,. Therefore, in the present embodiment, it is possible to independently record / reproduce data for each partition. For example, the data recording unit in one partition shown in FIG. Group (Group) shown in 4 (c)
It is possible to divide the unit into fixed-length units, which are referred to as "units". In this case, one group has 20 frames (Fr
1 frame is formed by 2 tracks (Track), as shown in FIG. 4D. Therefore, one group is formed by 40 tracks.

4. Data Structure of MIC (a) Data Structure of Entire MIC FIG. 5 shows a structure of data stored in the MIC 4 provided in the tape cassette 1. This MIC4
The capacity is, for example, 2 megabytes, and fields F1 to F6 are set in this area as shown in the figure. In these fields F1 to F6, the field F1 is used as a MIC header, and various information at the time of manufacturing the tape cassette, information related to the tape at the time of initialization, information for each partition, and the like are written therein. Further, the field F2 is an absolute volume map, and for example, absolute position information regarding data recorded on one roll of magnetic tape is stored, and the field F3 is volume information (Volume Information). Various history information about one magnetic tape is stored. The information stored in these areas can be used, for example, for recording / playback control in a tape streamer drive. Field F4 is User Volume Note (Use
r Volume Note), information provided by the user (vendor, etc.) regarding the tape cassette itself is stored, and can be supplied to an external host computer 25 if necessary and used for necessary processing control. . Field F5 is for partition information (Partiti
ons Information), various history information regarding the recording data for each partition written to the magnetic tape is stored, and can be used by the tape streamer drive for its own recording / reproducing operation.

The field F6 is a user partition note, and stores various information such as comments writable by the user for each partition. The user partition note in the field F6 is a user data area F6a (Us) created corresponding to each partition recorded on the magnetic tape.
er Data for every Partition).

(B) Structure Example of MIC Data Block (1) In the present embodiment, for example, data is stored in the MIC 4 in units of data blocks having a structure as shown in FIG. Can be seen. In this figure, first, a 1-byte header area A1 located at the beginning of each data block is provided, followed by 6 bytes.
A 4-byte data area A2 is provided. The error detection code area A3 is provided for the subsequent 2-byte area. The error detection code area A3 is the data area A
It is an area for the parity added to perform error detection on 12 data.

In the present embodiment, for example, the data of each area of F1 to F6 of MIC4 described with reference to FIG.
It can be regarded as being formed by a set of data block units shown in FIG. And MIC4
When data is to be written to, the data block having the structure shown in FIG. 6 is formed by adding an error detection code to the data to be written, and the data is written in units of this data block. To be done.

The error detection code used here may be based on an error detection method such as simple parity, but is not particularly limited, and the error detection accuracy of the data actually required. It may be set in consideration of the above. Further, the error detection code circuit 16 shown in FIG. 1 is configured corresponding to the error detection code system actually adopted based on the data block structure of FIG.

(C) Structure example of MIC data block (2) Further, instead of adding the "error detection code" as shown in FIG. 6, the "error correction code" is added to the write data to the MIC. It is possible. In this case, the data block structure of the MIC is as shown in FIG. 7, for example.
The same parts as those in FIG. 6 are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted. In this case, after the header area and the data area A12 each having a predetermined data size, an error correction code (EC
C) Area A13 will be provided. In this case, the error correction code area A13 is an area for storing the parity for performing error correction on the data in the data area A2. Note that the data size of each of the areas A11 to A13 in this case is different depending on the encoding system actually adopted and the like, and is not particularly limited here. Also,
Correspondingly, in the tape streamer drive of the present embodiment shown in FIG. 1, in the error detection code circuit 16, as shown in (), an ECC (error correction code) circuit is used instead of the error detection code circuit 16. 16A will be provided. When the error correction code circuit 16A is used, the error correction code is added to the MIC data supplied from the system controller 15 and written to the MIC 4, and when reading the MIC data,
Under the control of the system controller 15, data error detection and error correction are performed.

5. Operation of recording / reproducing apparatus Next, as described above, the "error detection code"
Or, regarding the operation of the tape streamer drive shown in FIG. 1, it is possible to perform recording / reproduction corresponding to the tape cassette 1 provided with the MIC 4 storing the data to which the “error correction code” is added. As will be described, the operation when the “error detection code” is added to the data of the MIC4 (having the data structure of FIG. 6) will be described first.

First, regarding the operation at the time of writing data to the MIC 4 from the tape streamer drive side of the present embodiment, for example, an operation such as recording / reproducing for the loaded tape cassette 1 is performed and stored in the MIC 4. It is assumed that it is necessary to rewrite required information such as the tape cassette body or the usage history of the magnetic tape. Specifically, a rewritable area such as the partial area of the absolute volume map (field F2), volume information (field F3), partition information (field 5), and user partition note (field 6) described in FIG. Exists, the area where data update is required and the content of the update are specified according to the result of the actual recording / reproducing operation. When the information of the MIC4 needs to be updated in this way, the system controller 15 supplies the error detection code circuit 16 with the update data to be written in the MIC4. Under the control of the system controller 15, the error detection code circuit 16 adds the error detection code to the update data of the MIC 4 based on the data structure shown in FIG.
After this, writing is performed in a required area of the MIC4.

By the way, in the MIC 4 having the data structure described in FIG. 5, unlike the rewritable area as described above, for example, the MIC header (field F) is used.
1), data is written in a partial area of the user volume note (field F4) and the user partition note (F6) by a manufacturer or a user (vendor) at the time of shipping, initializing, or providing data. Basically, there is an area in which rewriting of data accompanying the recording / reproducing operation of the tape streamer driver cannot be performed after the tape cassette reaches the end user's hand. Therefore, when a maker, a vendor, or the like writes data in an area that cannot be rewritten by the end user as described above, the data is written by adding an error detection code according to the data structure shown in FIG. 6 in advance. To be done.

Next, the operation of reading data from the MIC 4 by the tape streamer drive of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. This figure shows the processing operation of the system controller 15. In the routine for reading data from the MIC 4, first in step F101, the system controller 15 is requested to read MIC data. The request for reading the MIC data is, for example, from the external host computer 25.
When a data signal for requesting data read is supplied, or when the system controller 15 itself internally issues a read request based on the operating state of the tape streamer drive, it may vary depending on the actual situation. . Further, when a request for reading the data of the MIC4 is made in this step, the area / table (address) to be read from the MIC4 is also designated at the same time. In addition, as a situation in which a request for reading MIC data is made, in addition to when the tape cassette is loaded,
Depending on the conditions, MI may occur during recording / playback.
There are various possibilities such as when C data is required.

When the MIC data read request is received as described above, the system controller 15 proceeds to step F102 to execute the process of reading the data of the designated area / table from the MIC. The data thus read is, for example, the system controller 1
5 is stored in a predetermined area of the internal memory and used for various processes. As described above, in this embodiment, the error detection code is added to the data stored in the MIC 4, and the system controller 1
5 performs error detection on the data read from the MIC 4 in the next step F103 based on the added error detection code. Then, this step F103
In the case where no error is detected in the read data, the routine exits this routine and executes the required processing in the next step. However, when an error is detected, the process proceeds to step F104.

In step F104, the above step F1
It is determined whether or not the number of error detections in 03 is greater than or equal to a preset specified number of times. If the number of errors is less than the specified number of times, the process proceeds to step F105 and it is determined that the data has an error in step F103. The read (retry) is executed again for the determined area of the MIC4. Then, by returning to the processing of step F103, error detection is performed on the MIC data read again in step F105. If no error is detected in the data read again, it is assumed that the data read by the retry in the previous step F105 has been normally performed, and this routine is exited, but if an error is still detected, Will repeat the process of steps F104 → F105 → F103. At this time, if it is determined in step F104 that the number of error detections in step F103 exceeds the specified number, the process proceeds to step F106. In step F106, for example, the information indicating that the data reading from the MIC4 has not been properly performed is
The data is transmitted to the host computer 20 via the CSI interface 20. Upon receiving this information, the host computer 20 executes a corresponding process such as displaying an alert indicating that the data reading from the MIC 4 has not been properly performed.

As described above, in the tape streamer drive of this embodiment, when reading data from the MIC 4, the error detection of the read data is performed based on the error detection code added to the MIC data, and the data error is detected. If so, the operation of reading the data from the MIC again is performed. As a result, it is assumed that noise is superimposed on the data transmission path between the MIC 4 and the system controller 15 when data is read from the MIC 4 due to some external factor or the like, which causes an error in the data. Even in such a situation, the MIC4 is again used as in the present embodiment.
By accessing the data and reloading the data, the possibility that correct data will be obtained becomes extremely high. As a result, in the tape streamer drive and the host computer 2, based on the correct MIC data,
It is possible to properly execute the required processing operation.

Further, for example, in this embodiment, the MIC is used.
The data transmission path between the tape 4 and the tape streamer drive is supposed to be carried out through physical contact points, but even if a data transmission path is formed without contact using radio waves or infrared rays, it is possible to use a foreign contact. It is possible to deal with a data error due to noise or the like. Furthermore, the possibility of data errors is significantly reduced in the way described above, for example in MICs.
The user (vendor) or the like can feel at ease with the data that is considered to be very important as the information content stored in 4
It also becomes possible to store and provide in C4.

Next, the operation on the tape streamer drive side corresponding to the case where the "error correction code" is added to the data of the MIC4, that is, the data structure shown in FIG. At the time of writing data, the operation in the case where the "error detection code" is added to the data of the MIC4 described above is followed. That is,
When the information of the MIC4 needs to be updated, the system controller 15 supplies the error correction code circuit 16A with the update data to be written in the MIC4.
In the error correction code circuit 16A, the error correction code is added to the update data based on the data structure shown in FIG. 7, and then the data is written in the required area of the MIC4.

Also in this case, regarding the area in the MIC4 where the end user cannot rewrite the data, the data is written in advance in FIG. 7 when the maker or vendor writes the data in the non-rewritable area. Data is written by adding an error correction code according to the data structure.

Further, the processing operation of the system controller 15 when the error correction code is added to the data of the MIC 4 is not particularly shown in the flow chart, but for example, the processing operation shown in the flow chart of FIG. It can be realized by conforming. However, in this case, as the processing of step F105 when an error is detected in the read data in step F103, the MIC
4, the error correction code circuit 16A is used to perform error correction on the data in which an error is detected, instead of executing the data read. Even if the data read from the MIC 4 is restored in this manner, the possibility of obtaining correct data from the MIC 4 is significantly improved.

The embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the configurations shown in the drawings described above, and the format of data to be stored in the tape cassette, the tape streamer drive, and the MIC, etc. Is
It can be changed as appropriate according to actual use conditions. In addition, as the embodiments described so far, it is possible to use a nonvolatile memory 8 for recording / reproducing a digital signal.
The recording / reproducing system including the tape cassette for the millimeter VTR and the tape streamer drive corresponding to the tape cassette has been described, but the recording / reproducing system is not limited to this, and information such as a video signal and an audio signal is recorded / reproduced.
In the reproducible recording / reproducing system, it is naturally applicable to the case where the MIC is provided in the tape cassette.

[0043]

As described above, the present invention has a data structure in which an error detection code or an error correction code is added to the data to be stored in the MIC provided in the tape cassette. If a code error is detected in the data read from the data, MI
It becomes possible to read data from C again or to perform error correction on the read data based on the error correction code. Therefore, as compared with the case where no error detection code or error correction code is added to the MIC data, in the present invention, the possibility that the data extracted from the MIC is error-free becomes extremely high, and the recording / reproducing correspondingly is performed. This has the effect of improving the reliability of the system.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a tape streamer drive which is a recording / reproducing apparatus of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view schematically showing the internal structure of the tape cassette according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the external appearance of the tape cassette according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a data structure recorded on a magnetic tape.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a data structure of MIC.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a structural example of a data block of MIC.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a structural example of a data block of MIC.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a processing operation at the time of reading MIC data in the tape streamer drive of the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 tape cassette, 3 magnetic tape, 4 MIC, 1
1 rotating drum, 12A, 12B recording head, 13
A, 13B reproducing head, 15 system controller, 16 error detection code circuit, 16A error correction code circuit, 17 mechanical controller, 18 modulation / demodulation circuit,
19 RF amplifier, 20 SCSI interface,
21 compression / decompression circuit, 22 buffer controller,
23 buffer memory, 25 host computer

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A tape cassette provided with a magnetic tape on which magnetic recording and magnetic reproduction are performed, and a nonvolatile memory for storing required information related to the tape cassette is provided and stored in the nonvolatile memory. A tape cassette in which an error detection code is added to the data. 2. A tape cassette provided with a magnetic tape on which magnetic recording and magnetic reproduction are performed, and a non-volatile memory for storing required information related to the tape cassette is provided and stored in the non-volatile memory. A tape cassette characterized in that an error correction code is added to the data. 3. A tape cassette provided with a magnetic tape and a non-volatile memory, capable of recording or reproducing on the magnetic tape and reading data from the non-volatile memory, and from the non-volatile memory. A recording / reproducing apparatus comprising an error detecting means capable of detecting whether or not there is an error in read data based on an error detection code added to the read data. 4. If the error detection means determines that the read data has an error, the control means is configured to read the data from the nonvolatile memory again. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein 5. A tape cassette equipped with a magnetic tape and a non-volatile memory, capable of recording or reproducing on the magnetic tape and reading data from the non-volatile memory, and from the non-volatile memory. A recording / reproducing apparatus comprising an error correction means capable of performing error correction on read data based on an error correction code added to read data. 6. A tape cassette provided with a magnetic tape and a non-volatile memory, capable of recording or reproducing at least on the magnetic tape and writing data to the non-volatile memory, and the non-volatile memory. A recording / reproducing apparatus comprising an error detection code adding means capable of adding an error detection code to data to be written to. 7. A tape cassette provided with a magnetic tape and a non-volatile memory, capable of at least recording or reproducing to and from the magnetic tape and writing data to the non-volatile memory, and at the same time, to the non-volatile memory. A recording / reproducing apparatus comprising an error correction code adding means capable of adding an error correction code to data to be written.