An arcuate scan tape drive for transferring data to and from a data tape (26). Situated within a base (22) and cover (24) is a head carrier assembly (36) for recording data onto and playing back data from the data tape which advances in a longitudinal direction past the head carrier assembly. The head carrier assembly (36) includes an inside-out spin motor (40) for rotating the head carrier assembly and a pivot motor (72) at the rear of the head carrier assembly for pivoting the head carrier assembly in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of advancement of the tape (26). The spin motor (40) and pivoting motor (72) receive servo signals from a controller so as to continuously adjust the position of the core elements (46) with respect to the data tape so as to align the core elements with the arcuately-shaped data tracks (118).