Western Digital Technologies, Inc.

James Weispfenning

David Malcolm Hannon

Jodie Ann Christner

Gary L Dunbar

Timothy D Bouwkamp

The present invention may be regarded as a disk drive with protection against damage due to a thermal asperity. The disk drive comprises a disk having a surface with an asperity, and a magneto-resistive head actuated radially over the surface of the disk for generating a read signal comprising a thermal asperity component caused by the magneto-resistive head contacting the asperity on the surface of the disk. A bias generator is provided for generating an electrical bias applied to the magneto-resistive head, and a thermal asperity detector detects the thermal asperity component in the read signal. When the thermal asperity component is detected, the electrical bias is reduced for a time interval, thereby protecting the magneto-resistive head.

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Rochester, MN, United States of America

James Weispfenning