A system and method for writing data to a magnetic tape that may provide improved data writing and throughput is provided. First data accumulated in the buffer is written to a temporary recording area on the tape. The first data is then written to a normal recording area on the tape. Second data may be received while the first data is rewritten to the normal recording area. Second data received during data rewriting is accumulated in an area of the buffer not currently being accessed. This makes it possible to handle another write request from a host during rewrite. The second data may be written to the normal recording area so that the second data is contiguous with the first data.