Seagate Technology Incorporated

Maxtor Corporation

Joerg Ferber

Erhard Theodor Schreck

Michael L Mallary

Scott A Hughes

Chris Hawks

Brian D Strom

Donald Joseph Brunnett

Bruce C Schardt

Kazuhiro Saito

Jingbo Yu

Andrew LeFebvre

Thao Anh Nguyen

Xiaoping Hu

SungChang Lee

Duc H Banh

Richard Oswald

Francis P Crimi

Mark Heimbaugh

Douglas J Krajnovich

Anthony R Hurtado

Tim Glassburn

Duc Bahn

A hard disk drive with a spindle motor that rotates a disk. When the disk drive is exposed to low temperatures a current can be provided to the spindle motor to heat the motor. For example, a DC current can be provided to the spindle motor. The current flowing through the spindle motor coil generates heat. The current can be provided for a predetermined time interval to sufficiently heat the spindle motor so that the fluid bearings of the motor can operate. The current is terminated and then an AC current is provided to the spindle motor to cause motor rotation.

Heat assisted spindle motor

A disk drive for storing data includes a drive housing, a storage disk that is rotatably coupled to the drive housing, a slider assembly positioned near the storage disk, and a drive circuitry. The slider assembly includes a head that interacts with the storage disk during a data transfer operation and a slider mover. The drive circuitry directs a first power level to slider mover to maintain the head at a first HtD spacing, and a second power level to the slider mover to maintain the head at a second HtD spacing, and a variable, transition power to the slider mover during a transition between the first power level being directed to the slider mover and the second power level being directed to the slider mover. The transition power is tailored to rapidly move the head between the HtD spacings.

Disk drive that varies the power to a slider mover during transitions between drive operations

A disk drive includes a rotatable storage disk, an actuator motor, a slider that magnetically interacts with the storage disk, and a drive circuitry. A portion of the slider moves between a first position wherein the slider does not contact the storage disk and a second position wherein the slider contacts the storage disk. The drive circuitry can detect when the position of the slider changes between these positions. In one embodiment, the drive circuitry monitors off-track movement of the slider to detect when the slider has moved between these positions. The drive circuitry can also current that is directed to the actuator motor that is used to compensate for off-track movement to detect when the slider moves between these positions. In yet another embodiment, the drive circuitry monitors a rotational velocity of the storage disk to detect approximately when the slider moves between these positions.

System for detecting a change in head-to-disk contact status in a disk drive

A disk drive includes a drive housing, a storage disk, a slider and a drive circuitry. The slider magnetically interacts with the storage disk, and includes a read/write head that is positioned to have an actual head-to-disk spacing greater than zero nanometers during rotation of the storage disk. The drive circuitry can determine and/or monitor the actual head-to-disk spacing at any time during the operation of the disk drive based on an amplitude or a change in the amplitude of a signal such as a variable gain amplifier signal. In one embodiment, the slider includes a slider mover that receives current via the drive circuitry and causes a deformation of a portion of the slider to change the head-to-disk spacing based on the amplitude of the signal. In another embodiment, the read/write head moves during substantially consistent rotational velocity of the storage disk from a first actual head-to-disk spacing equal to approximately zero nanometers, to a second actual head-to-disk spacing that is greater than zero nanometers based on a desired amplitude of the signal.

System for monitoring and dynamically adjusting head-to-disk spacing in a disk drive

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Joerg Ferber