Seagate Technology Incorporated

Daniel Eugene Hobson

Anish A Ukani

David L Schell

Beng Wee Quak

Lealon Ray McKenzie

Teck Khoon Lim

Ming Zhong Ding

Philip Ray Woods

Patrick TaiHeng Wong

Chris Thomas Settje

Soon Wah Leow

An apparatus and method for selecting physical cylinders (cylinders accessible for read/write operations) in a disc drive is provided. The disc drive includes at least one rotatable disc. The disc drive also includes a first head, which is positionable adjacent a first disc surface, and a second head, which is positionable adjacent a second disc surface. The first disc surface has a first plurality of greycode tracks and the second disc surface has a second plurality of greycode tracks. Each greycode track of the second plurality of greycode tracks corresponds to a different greycode track of the first plurality of greycode tracks, thereby forming a plurality of greycode cylinders, with each greycode cylinder of the plurality of greycode cylinders including a pair of corresponding greycode tracks. The physical cylinders are a subset (less than all) of the plurality of the greycode cylinders. The method of selecting the physical cylinders includes determining whether the first plurality of greycode tracks or the second plurality of greycode tracks demonstrates greater track eccentricity, to thereby obtain a maximum track eccentricity surface and a corresponding maximum eccentricity head. The maximum track eccentricity surface is one of the first and second disc surfaces and the maximum eccentricity head is a corresponding one of the first and second heads. The maximum eccentricity head is used to locate at least one of the physical cylinders.

Selecting physical cylinders in a disc drive employing discs with pre-written servo patterns

Method and apparatus for reducing repeatable runout signals in a servo position error (SPE) signal of a disc drive actuator. During track following, a measurement estimate is obtained through the sampling and accumulating of data from the SPE over a mechanical revolution of the drive, the measurement estimate providing a characterization of the repeatable runout signal in the servo position error signal. A correction estimate is updated by the measurement estimate, and the correction estimate is added to the servo position error signal to provide an adjusted servo position error signal. The disc drive uses the adjusted servo position error signal to generate a correction signal for adjusting the position of the actuator. The measurement estimate is reset after each update of the correction estimate and a new measurement estimate is generated during each subsequent rotation of the disc drive during track following mode.

Feed forward compensation for repeatable head position error in a disc drive

Apparatus and method for evaluating the presence of a track tear servo defect in a disc drive, characterized as a stepwise radial discontinuity so that the track ends at a different radius than it begins is disclosed for a disc drive. A first defect log is generated for a selected track, the first defect log providing an indication of detected defects for each servo frame associated with the selected track. At such time that a selected servo frame is identified as having a defect, a second defect log is generated for the selected track while the position information provided by the selected servo frame is ignored. The second defect log is then evaluated to determine whether any defects are detected for the remaining servo frames. At such time that a defect appears in the second defect log for a servo frame immediately following the selected servo frame, a track tear condition is declared.

Detecting a track tear servo defect condition in a hard disc drive

Apparatus and method for detecting defective servo frames in a disc drive, the defective servo frames including anomalous position field patterns which generate burst signals of insufficient relative magnitude to facilitate proper servo control. Burst signals are generated from the position field patterns of a selected servo frame and a combination term is determined as a selected combination of the magnitudes of the burst signals. The combination term is compared to a predetermined threshold and the servo frame is identified as being defective when the combination term falls below the predetermined threshold. The combination term is preferably generated from the magnitudes of burst signals generated from three burst patterns: a first burst pattern extending from a first track boundary to a second, adjacent track boundary, a second burst pattern extending from a track centerline to the first track boundary and a third burst pattern extending from the track centerline to the second track boundary.

Servo frame defect mapping in a hard disc drive

A method for calibrating the position error signal in a servo system of a disc drive. The disc drive comprises a disc and an actuator adjacent the disc, the actuator including a head which is controllably positionable relative to data tracks on the surface of the disc using a servo position error signal generated using a scale factor generally indicative of the ratio of the width of the head to the width of the tracks on the disc. The head is positioned at the center of a selected track using an initial scale factor for the position error signal, the selected track having servo position fields comprising a plurality of burst patterns. The burst patterns include a first burst pattern extending radially from a first track boundary to a second track boundary of the selected track, a second burst pattern extending radially from the center of the selected track to the first track boundary and a third burst pattern extending radially from the center of the selected track to the second track boundary. At the center of the selected track, the magnitude of burst signals read by the head from the second and third burst patterns is nominally equal, and from this location the head is swept towards the first track boundary until the magnitude of burst signals from the second burst pattern is nominally equal to the magnitude of burst signals from the first burst pattern, identifying a quarter-track location halfway between the center of the selected track and the first track boundary. A calibration scale factor for the position error signal is determined from the ratio of the expected position error signal to the actual position error signal obtained at the quarter-track location. Alternatively, the initial scale factor is incremented and the head is repositioned towards until the quarter-track location until the magnitude of burst signals from the second burst pattern is nominally equal to the magnitude of burst signals from the first burst pattern, after which the incremented scale factor is stored as the calibration scale factor.

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Yukon, OK, United States of America

Daniel Eugene Hobson