Maxtor Corporation

Dennis Chen

Lin Guo

Bernhard Hiller

Glenn Douglas Albert

Matthew A O'Hara

A method for overcoming a stiction condition in a disk drive is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes the steps of: (1) providing a plurality of disks each having a pair of disk surfaces, each of the disk surfaces having a corresponding actuator arm assembly including a head; (2) providing a spin motor for rotating said plurality of disks when a stiction condition does not exist; (3) providing a voice coil motor for positioning said heads relative to said disk surfaces when a stiction condition does not exist; (3) providing a microprocessor for controlling application of a voice coil motor current to said voice coil motor and for controlling application of a spin motor current to said spin motor; (4) applying a spin motor current to said spin motor; (5) sensing that the spin motor is not rotating said plurality of disks and, hence, a stiction condition exists; (6) applying a first oscillating current to said voice coil motor in response to said stiction condition, said first oscillating current having a fixed frequency and a first amplitude; (7) determining whether said spin motor is rotating in response to said first oscillating current; and, (8) continuing to apply said first oscillating current for at least one commutation state of said spin motor after determining that said spin motor is rotating in response to said first oscillating current.

Method for overcoming a stiction condition in disk drive

A slider support structure is disclosed for minimizing off-rack due to disk flutter. In one embodiment, the slider support structure includes a gimbal assembly ( ). The assembly ( ) includes an outer ring ( ) and an inner ring ( ). The outer ring ( ) is connected to the inner ring ( ) via narrow strips ( and ) adjacent to the front ( ) and back ( ) surfaces of the slider body ( ). The inner ring ( ) is attached to the left ( ) and right ( ) surfaces of the slider body ( ) via narrow strips ( and ). The strips ( and ) interconnecting the inner ring ( ) and outer ring ( ) define a flexible hinge that allows the slider body ( ) to pivot relative to the assembly ( ) about an axis ( ) which, in this case, is the roll axis. Similarly, the strips ( and ) define a flexible hinge which allows the slider to pivot relative to the assembly ( ) about another axis ( ) which, in this case, is the pitch axis. The axes ( and ) are disposed close to the lower surface of the slider so that head off-track associated with such pivotal is minimized.

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Milpitas, CA, United States of America

Dennis Chen