Disk drive with fault detector for erase heads

Abstract

A floppy disk drive comprises a read/write head and a pair of erase heads. The read/write head has a gap that extends across and beyond opposite edges of a track, while the gaps of the erase heads are aligned with each other and extend from the opposite edges of the track to create a pair of erased regions on opposite sides of the track. A wire circuit activates the read/write head in response to an output signal from a host system for recording signals along a sector of a track. An erase circuit activates the erase heads in response to the output of the host system for creating the erased regions along a length that corresponds to the sector. A fault detector is provided for detecting a potential developed by the erase heads to allow the write circuit to respond to the output of the host system when the potential is high and prevent the read/write head from responding to the output when the potential is low.