An apparatus according to one embodiment includes a head, a controller coupled to the head, and logic integrated with and/or executable by the controller. The logic is configured to receive a series of commands, the series of commands including mixed read, overwrite, and append write commands, cause reading of data from a specified position of a tape using the head and storing the data in a buffer in response to a read command; and cause writing of data stored in the buffer starting from an appended data end position of the tape in response to an append write command.