International Business Machines Corporation

Dave Anthony Freitas

Mohamad Towfik Krounbi

Karl Arnold Belser

Michael Paul Salo

Wayne Leung Cheung

Ju-Hi John Hong

Scott Arthur Thomas

A magneto-resistive (M-R) head has a read element with a servo sensing width as wide as a data track width and a data sensing width of less than one data track width. The two read sensing widths are achieved by using a single read element having a center electrical contact from the M-R read element that effectively reduces the sensing width of the read element. In a first embodiment, the servo sensing width comprises a first portion of the read element and the data sensing width comprises a second, smaller portion of the read element. In a second embodiment, the servo sensing width comprises the entire read element width and the data sensing width comprises a portion thereof. In yet another embodiment, abutting read elements are constructed to enable separate optimization of each sensing width. The wide servo sensing width permits use of a wide servo pattern having servo bursts as wide as a data track width. A position error sensing (PES) signal produced with the wide servo read element and wide servo pattern has increased linearity and accuracy.

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Morgan Hill, CA, United States of America

Dave Anthony Freitas