Seagate Technology Incorporated

Brian Robert Pollock

Reed David Hanson

Timothy Francis Ellis

John Christopher Morris

Alexei Hiram Sacks

Scott Edward Ryun

Joshua Ward Christensen

Kent J Forbord

Jason Dale Gregg

Garry Edward Korbel

Paul William Burnett

James H McGlennen

Nathaniel Boyd Wilson

Brian W Sudman

Ryan Todd Lyle

Mark Larry Birtzer

Richard Arthur Herr

Ryan Thomas Herbison

Narrow band dwell occurs when air bearings corresponding to a set of read and/or write heads within a hard disc drive remain within a fixed narrow band of one or more storage platters for an extended period of time. The air bearings displace lubricant on the storage platters and may redeposit the lubricant as droplets on the platters. The presently disclosure technology is directed to monitoring a hard disc drive for narrow band dwell, and in some implementations, implementing operations to mitigate narrow band dwell. More specifically, the presently disclosure technology may detect an overflying air-bearing slider position, apply a lubrication film displacement formula to a narrow band of the storage platter, apply a lubrication film reflow formula to one or more other narrow bands of the storage platter, and track lubrication film thickness over time in each of the narrow bands of the storage platter.

Narrow band dwell monitoring

A processor is configured to perform a method () including a step of deriving lateral offset indicators () from a longitudinal position measurement (). Improved seek cost indicators () are generated, some or all based on a respective lateral offset indicator (). Then a target destination is selected using at least one of the improved seek cost indicators ().

Selecting a target destination using seek cost indicators based on longitudinal position

A data storage system and a method for storing data in a data storage system are provided. The data storage system includes a data storage medium that has at least one physical track that stores at least a portion of manufacturing process data, and virtual tracks that store user data.

Utilizing a combination of physical tracks and virtual tracks to store data on a data storage medium

The present invention relates to repeatable runout (RRO) compensation of servo control systems that can be used in disc drives or spin-stands. The RRO relates to eccentricity between servo tracks, which were written onto a disc prior to the installation of the disc into the disc drive or spin-stand, and an axis of rotation of the disc. The present invention compensates the servo control loop by canceling the RRO and controlling a head to follow virtual tracks which are eccentric to the data tracks defined by the servo tracks and concentric with the axis of rotation of the disc.

Virtual tracks for repeatable runout compensation

A method and apparatus for compensating for repeatable run-out errors in a disc drive is disclosed. The compensation is created by determining transfer function values for a servo loop in the drive as well as a sequence of repeatable run-out values for a portion of a disc. The repeatable run-out values are divided by respective transfer function values to produce compensation values that are inverse transformed to produce time-domain compensation values. These time-domain compensation values are injected into the servo loop to compensate for repeatable run-out errors.

Compensation for repeatable run-out error

A disc drive comprises a drive motor mechanically coupled to a disc and a voice coil motor mechanically coupled to a read/write head on the disc. A power integrated circuit is electrically coupled to the drive motor and the voice coil motor. The power integrated circuit includes an integrated temperature sensor that provides a temperature output. A control circuit receives the temperature output and provides a voice coil motor control output to the power integrated circuit as a function of the temperature output.

Optimizing thermal performance of an integrated circuit in a disc drive

To alleviate excessive non-repeatable runout (NRRO) on heads between discs, an original multi-disc design is adapted by (a) reducing the number of discs in the stack and (b) configuring the disc drive of the adapted design with a larger nominal inter-disc separation than that of the original design. In one embodiment, the larger separation is maintained by an increased number of disc spacers between each consecutive pair of the discs in the disc stack of the modified design. The result of such a design adaptation is a disc drive with better performance characteristics than would exist by the original design.

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Eden Prairie, MN, United States of America

Brian Robert Pollock