Hgst Netherlands, B.v.

Koji Kataoka

Takashi Wagatsuma

Katsumi Hoshino

Yukimasa Okada

In one embodiment, a magnetic disk device includes a magnetic disk medium, at least one magnetic head having at least one of: a magnetic read element adapted for reading data from the magnetic disk medium and a magnetic write element adapted for writing data to the magnetic disk medium, and a heating element adapted for generating heat upon application of a voltage/current thereto, wherein the heating element is positioned on, near, or within the magnetic head, a drive mechanism for passing the magnetic disk medium over the at least one magnetic head, and a controller electrically coupled to the at least one magnetic head for controlling operation of the at least one magnetic head, wherein the controller is configured to retract the at least one magnetic head from a flying state above the magnetic disk medium and apply the voltage/current to the heating element while the magnetic head is retracted.

Error recovery based on applying current/voltage to a heating element of a magnetic head

A manner for stabilizing the shield domain structure is described that employs the magnetic field of a hard bias layer. More particularly, it has been found that the shield domain structure is stabilized when the height of the hard bias layer in the depth direction is made substantially half the height of upper shield layer. In another embodiment of the invention, a stabilizing structure is provided at approximately the midpoint of the shield in order to fix the closure domain of the shield to the desired two-domain structure. In an embodiment of the invention, the stabilizing structure is made convex or concave as viewed from the air-bearing surface.

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Odawara, Japan

Koji Kataoka