1. A tape drive comprising: a take-up reel; a non-volatile memory; a tape drive mechanism configured to load and unload tape between the take-up reel and a single reel tape cartridge in accordance with instructions stored in the non-volatile memory; and a controller configured to store the functional state of the tape drive mechanism in the non-volatile memory and to control and reinitialize the tape drive mechanism in accordance with the functional state stored in the non-volatile memory, wherein the functional state read from the non-volatile memory facilitates resumption of operation of the tape drive mechanism during transport of one end of the tape to and from a take-up reel following reinitialization.