Method and apparatus for adaptively calibrating disk drive performance

Abstract

An adaptive technique for calibrating a disk drive based on real time measurements. The invention includes a sensor for measuring a performance characteristics of a disk drive, a control circuit for comparing the measured performance characteristics to reference characteristics, and memory for storing performance parameters. The performance parameters are updated when the measured performance characteristics differs from the reference characteristic by a predetermined value, and the processor performs drive operations in accordance with the updated performance parameters. In the specific embodiments, the performance characteristic include disk runout and seek settle performance. A calibration flag may be set in the interface processor in response to the comparison of the measured performance characteristics to reference characteristics. An interrupt flag may be set for interrupting the calibrating of the runout performance when a demand for data is received by the drive, and a calibration command may be issued, e.g., to a servo controller, in response to the setting of the calibration flag. In response to the comparison of the measured performance parameters, the seek velocity may be decreased if the seek settle performance is worse than a minimum seek settle reference value and increased if the seek settle performance is better than a maximum seek settle reference value.