Other

Syquest Technology, Inc.

Mansur B Kiadeh

James Arthur Herbst

Chih-Hsiung Chang

Kai C Sun

Kai C K Sun

A higher-capacity disk drive system and a higher-capacity removable disk cartridge adapted for downward compatibility with older, lower-capacity disk drive systems, wherein a unique control information format is stored on higher-capacity removable disk cartridges to distinguish them from older, lower-capacity removable disk cartridges and thereby to facilitate cartridge capacity recognition by the higher-capacity disk drive system. Upon recognizing the capacity of an inserted removable disk cartridge, the higher-capacity disk drive system can read and write data to the removable disk cartridge such that data which it stores on a lower-capacity removable disk cartridge may be read by lower-capacity disk drive systems.

Disk drive system and control circuitry adapted for downward compatibility

A disk drive system having downward compatibility includes a read/write head and a feedback servo controller for reading and writing information to and from a removable disk cartridge. When writing information to the data tracks of magnetic medium of a lower-capacity disk cartridge, in which the data tracks are substantially wider than the width of the read/write head, the read/write head is operated in an erase mode for several resolutions prior to writing the data. The read/write head is first shifted off track center by a small DC offset, then operated in an erase mode while being guided in a repeating oscillating pattern under closed loop servo control. The read/write head is then shifted off track center in the other direction, then again operated in an erase mode while being guided in a repeating oscillating pattern under closed loop servo control. A higher capacity disk drive system can thereby read and write data to the removable disk cartridge such that data which it stores on a lower-capacity removable disk cartridge may be read by lower-capacity disk drive systems without sideband interference.

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Cupertino, CA, United States of America

Mansur B Kiadeh