Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.v.

International Business Machines Corporation

Hgst Netherlands, B.v.

Masakazu Sasaki

Takeshi Chawanya

Kenji Suzuki

Mutsuro Ohta

Kiyoshi Satoh

Satoshi Hayakawa

Gregory Michael Frees

Makoto Ono

Hiroaki Suzuki

Takao Suzuki

Jr-Yi Shen

David W Albrecht

Jun Ishikawa

Hiroki Kitahori

Kenji Okada

Hiromitsu Masuda

Steven Alf Hanssen

Kohichi Takeuchi

Akira Kibashi

Eiji Soga

Hajime Eguchi

Tatsuya Endo

Koichi Arai

Masaki Kohno

Yoshimi Masuda

Yasuhiro Sakata

Sunao Nemoto

Eriko Iwase

Hisashi Kakuta

A hard disk drive is described, including a low-profile disk clamp to tied-shaft spindle/spindle motor assembly, in which a clamping nut is threaded onto a threaded spindle sleeve and a stationary shaft screw, or tied-shaft, penetrates through the HDD cover and into a shaft. The disk clamp may include a central opening for centering about the sleeve by way of the outer diameter of the clamping nut mating with the outer diameter of the clamp opening.

Hard disk drive low profile disk clamp to tied-shaft motor assembly

A load-unload ramp structure with a cantilevered fin portion to reduce drop shock in a hard-disk drive (HDD). The load-unload ramp structure includes a first load-unload ramp, a fin, and a bracket portion. The first load-unload ramp is configured to lift a first head-slider away from a magnetic-recording disk. The fin is coupled to the first load-unload ramp and is disposed below a first parking position of the first head-slider. The fin includes a fin base portion and a first cantilevered fin portion. The first cantilevered fin portion is coupled to, and extends outward from, the fin base portion. The bracket portion is integrally attached to the first load-unload ramp, and is configured to allow affixing the load-unload ramp structure in a static position in a disk-enclosure base of the HDD. A HDD including the load-unload ramp structure and a method for providing protection from drop shock are also provided.

Load-unload ramp structure with cantilevered fin portion configured to reduce drop shock in a hard-disk drive

Embodiments of the present invention provide an inexpensive latching mechanism having a necessary and sufficient function to hold an actuator of a magnetic disk drive and including a latch formed in a one-piece structure. According to one embodiment, a latching mechanism for a magnetic disk drive includes a latch lever, a hook, for latching an actuator, extending vertically downward from the latch lever, and a bar, to be pressed by an actuator at its home position in a closing direction, extending vertically downward from the latch arm. A steel pin is attached to the latch lever to urge the latch in an opening direction by a magnetic force.

Actuator latching mechanism for magnetic disk drive

Embodiments of the present invention help provide a simple and inexpensive actuator mechanism for a magnetic disk drive. The actuator mechanism includes an approximately circular coil and a simple shaped magnet, and is capable of displaying adequate performance required for the magnetic disk drive. According to one embodiment, the magnetic disk drive includes an actuator mechanism which has an approximately circular coil and an approximately rectangular magnet. The long axis direction of the rectangular magnet is oriented in parallel to a straight line connecting the center of the inner circle of the circular coil in a state in which the actuator is positioned at the outermost circumference of a data area and the center of the inner circle of the circular coil in a state in which the actuator is positioned at the innermost circumference of the data area.

Actuator mechanism for magnetic disk drive

Embodiments of the present invention help to suppress performance degradation in an actuator of a disk drive device when attaching a damping member to a single surface of an arm. According to one embodiment, in a HDD a damping member is attached to a single surface of an arm. A shape of an inner arm is asymmetric with the center position between disks. Specifically, the thickness from a center position between the disks to the damping material attaching surface is thinner than the thickness from a center position between the disks to an opposite surface of the damping member attaching surface. This suppresses deformation of the vibration mode in the case that the damping member is attached to the single surface of the arm.

Disk drive device and carriage of actuator with damping member

Embodiments of the present invention restrain the head position accuracy from degrading due to torsional vibration of a head supporting unit. According to an embodiment of the invention, an actuator has a twisted carriage arm. A suspension is tilted in accordance with the twist of the carriage arm. When the carriage arm and the suspension torsionally vibrate, the vibration direction tilts against the normal direction of a recording surface in accordance with the twist. This technique decreases a peak value of off-track displacement that is caused by a head slider and is dependent on relationship between a skew angle and a torsional vibration direction.

Disk drive apparatus and head assembly used for the same

In an embodiment of the present invention, at least one mechanical fastener is used to mount a voice coil magnet assembly of a hard disk drive on a housing of the hard disk drive. A layer of a material having a low friction coefficient is disposed between the housing and the voice coil magnet assembly.

Method and system for reduction of off-track write errors in disk drives

Embodiments in accordance with the present invention improve the head characteristic and avoid collisions between a head element section and a recording disk. A hard disk drive according to an embodiment of the present invention performs TFC (Thermal Fly height Control) to adjust the clearance between the head element section and recording disk by means of thermal expansion. A head slider includes a TFC heater. The hard disk drive detects its acceleration and controls the TFC heater in accordance with the detected acceleration, thereby reducing the probability of collision between the head element section and recording disk. Further, the hard disk drive detects residual vibration prevailing after impact application. The heater turns back ON when the residual vibration becomes lower than a reference level.

Disk drive and disk drive control method

An attachment structure and method for a disk drive apparatus for making the coupling resonance frequency of a hard disk drive the same whether one disk is loaded or a plurality of disks are loaded based upon parameters obtained from a simulation model. The modeling of a coupling vibration for one disk and for two disks is performed using a coupling vibration model of a linear two degree-of-freedom system. The component parts of a spindle motor providing a spring constant K,are adjusted so that the resonance frequency determined by coupling that of a spindle motor with that of the disk(s) is made much the same whether one disk or two disks are loaded. This adjustment enables stable track following to be secured without the need for adding dummy disks and other parts.

Disk drive apparatus, attachment structure, and attachment method

A disk drive apparatus and a method for executing an error recovery process for an error caused by thermal asperity is set forth by positioning a disk read/write head in the vicinity of a thermal asperity and then by vibrating the head so that the head hits the foreign matter or protrusion on the surface of the disk causing the thermal asperity. Vibrations in the longitudinal direction are generated in a head by supplying a vibration signal to VCM. The vibration signal is superimposed on a head driving signal. During the vibration process, the head is positioned on a track shifted from a thermal asperity causing track by several tracks in order to hit the thermal asperity by an edge of a head.

Error recovery method and disk drive apparatus to superimpose a

Some disk drives produce a relatively large amount of acoustical noise. This noise is generated by vibrations of the disk drive cover caused by movement of the spindle motor and/or actuator head. A disk drive assembly is provided that significantly reduces the amount of acoustic noise emanating from a disk drive. An enclosure for a disk stack assembly, comprising at least one disk, mounted on a spindle attached to a motor and an actuator assembly, comprising at least one head attached to an actuator, is provided. The enclosure has an inner chamber with a post extending outwardly from a surface of the inner chamber. A compressible material is disposed at one end of the post abutting in a compressed state an opposing surface of the inner chamber. In a preferred embodiment, the post is integrally formed with the inner chamber and is unattached from the opposing surface. The damping post is preferably positioned in a position of maximum deflection for the vibration mode of the assembly. The damping post mass is such that the device enclosure frequencies are shifted away from source excitation forces improving the disk drive acoustic performance.

Damping post for reducing acoustic noise in a disk drive

A ball bearing assembly includes a ball retainer for retaining within a predetermined area each of the balls positioned between an inner race and an outer race, the retainer having grease feeding holes which extend toward the balls. Grease is fed only to those balls which actually need lubrication, and no remaining grease flows into a gap between the inner race or the outer race and the ball retainer, therefore frictional force does not increase. In the preferred embodiment, the ball bearing assembly is used to support a head and carriage assembly of a data storage disk apparatus.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Masakazu Sasaki