Iomega Corporation

David W Griffith

Allen T Bracken

Wayne A Sumner

David E Jones

Edward L Rich

Nicholas Brawne

T Greg Nguyen

Fred Charles Thomas, Iii

Ross W Bishop

Ralph Lee Sonderegger

Yiping Ma

Carl F Nicklos

John C Briggs

Robert S Patterson

John F Marshall

Michael R Lyon

Edward H Friery

Theon Rawlings

A removable magnetic data storage cartridges incorporates antiferromagnetically coupled (AFC) media and may be used with a data drive to push the capacity point of removable hard platter based magnetic storage to 35 GB for a single platter 2.5&#x2033; form factor product. The removable magnetic data storage cartridges incorporating AFC media represents an equivalent increase in the areal density of removable magnetic data storage cartridges on the order of 13&#xd7;.

Removable cartridge recording device incorporating antiferromagnetically coupled rigid magnetic media

A cartridge for a magnetic disk drive has a rigid shell and a flexible door which covers an opening through which read/write heads engage the recording medium. The flexible door is guided outside of the shell to an open position as the cartridge is inserted into the drive. A projection on a flexible arm in the drive catches a hole in the flexible door to open it as the cartridge is inserted into the drive. The door along the outside of the cartridge conserves space so that the recording medium can be large for a given form factor drive.

Disk drive cartridge door

Information storage disk cartridge

Storage disk cartridge

Computer storage disk cartridge

A cartridge for a magnetic disk drive has a rigid shell and a flexible door which covers an opening through which read/write heads engage the recording medium. The flexible door is guided outside of the shell to an open position as the cartridge is inserted into the drive. A projection on a flexible arm in the drive catches a hole in the flexible door to open it as the cartridge is inserted into the drive. The door which opens along the outside of the cartridge conserves space so that the recording medium can be large for a given form factor drive.

A head loading mechanism for a removable cartridge disk drive comprises a support base fixedly mounted in the drive, and a moveable member movably attached to the support base via a pair of elongate flexures. The moveable member has a ramped surface adapted to engage a suspension arm at the distal end of an actuator. A read/write head is mounted on the suspension arm. The moveable member moves upon the flexures in tandem with the actuator as it moves toward and away from the edge of a disk inserted in the drive. The moveable member carries the suspension arm of the actuator to the edge of the disk, at which point the suspension arm can ride up and down the ramped surface of the moveable member in order to load the read/write head onto the surface of the disk and then subsequently to unload the read/write head from the disk.

Head loading mechanism for a disk drive

In a magnetic disk drive heads are loaded and unloaded onto the magnetic disk by wings attached in close proximity to the magnetic heads. The wings ride on opposed profiles to separate the heads so that they can travel on either side of the disk and the heads are then brought together properly onto the disk. As the heads are withdrawn from the disk, they are separated by the opposed profiles and then the heads are parked on a cleaning pad.

Head load/unload and cleaning in a data storage device

In a disk drive the drive motor and actuator are mounted in a drawer which is slidable to an open position in which there is no vertical obstruction over the motor. The removable cartridge can be placed on the motor with the motor extending into the cartridge to engage the hub. A shutter in an edge of the cartridge is moved to an open position when the drawer is closed to provide access for the actuator to move magnetic heads into read/write relationship with the disks. A lock for the shutter maintains it in the closed position when the drawer is open.

Drawer loading removable cartridge disk drive

Growing community of inventors

Layton, UT, United States of America

David W Griffith