Techniques for detecting data, such as servo data, from input or incoming
data read from a transmission medium, such as magnetic recording medium,
in the presence or absence of radial incoherence. In one illustrative
recording medium-based aspect of the invention, such a technique for
detecting data from input data stored on a recording medium comprises the
following steps. First, one or more samples are interpolated from one or
more samples which have been generated from the input data at a given
symbol rate. The one or more interpolated samples have one or more phases
associated therewith which differ from a phase associated with the one or
more samples generated at the given symbol rate. Then, an optimum or best
phase is selected from the symbol rate phase and the one or more
interpolated phases such that at least a portion of the one or more
samples associated with the optimum phase are identified as
representative of detected data.