Abstract: Tilt between a head stack and its associated disk stack in a hard disk drive (HDD) is measured by determining the deviation of a target head from its expected position (based on the position of the current head) each time electrical contact is switched from the current head to a target head. A running average tilt value is stored and used to modify the logical seek distance used in a Rotational Position Optimization (RPO) algorithm to better order I/O requests in a queue. Also, the running average tilt value can be used by the servo to pre-position the target head before electrical contact is made with the target head, to improve speed of operation.

Abstract: A mounting interface for a spindle motor allows the optimization of the spindle dynamics. The mounting interface provides a steadfast relationship between a motor and a baseplate, wherein the mounting interface includes at least three surface points forming a single plane acting as a common boundary between the motor and the baseplate. The three surface points may be pads, and the pads may be coupled to the baseplate or to the mount flange. The three surface points provide reduced contact area between the mount flange and the baseplate, and the reduced contact area lowers the rigidity of the mount flange and the resonant frequencies. The surface area of the pads and the material of the pads is chosen to reduce acoustical noise. In addition, a damping ring may be provided for dissipating distortion energy between the motor, baseplate and/or mount flange.

Abstract: Tilt between a head stack and its associated disk stack in a hard disk drive (HDD) is measured by determining the deviation of a target head from its expected position (based on the position of the current head) each time electrical contact is switched from the current head to a target head. A running average tilt value is stored and used to modify the logical seek distance used in a Rotational Position Optimization (RPO) algorithm to better order I/O requests in a queue. Also, the running average tilt value can be used by the servo to pre-position the target head before electrical contact is made with the target head, to improve speed of operation.

Abstract: Tilt between a head stack and its associated disk stack in a hard disk drive (HDD) is measured by determining the deviation of a target head from its expected position (based on the position of the current head) each time electrical contact is switched from the current head to a target head. A running average tilt value is stored and used to modify the logical seek distance used in a Rotational Position Optimization (RPO) algorithm to better order I/O requests in a queue. Also, the running average tilt value can be used by the servo to pre-position the target head before electrical contact is made with the target head, to improve speed of operation.

Abstract: A system and method for precompensating for tangential misalignment in a direct access storage device adjusts a SID timing window individually for every track or surface of the direct access storage device. The system and method generate a calculation of the tangential misalignment and adjust, in accordance with the calculation of tangential misalignment, a timing window during which the transducer head reads the information located on the storage surface. The calculation of tangential misalignment may be the result of a direct measurement of the tangential misalignment, or may be converted from radial misalignment data. The adjustment of the timing window may comprise opening the timing window an amount depending upon the degree of misalignment of each track, and may comprise shifting the window in time either forward or backward depending upon the nature of the calculated misalignment.

Abstract: The fundamental vibration or butterfly mode sensitivity of a hard disk drive,is significantly dependent on the operating temperature of the drive. The temperature of the drive is readily determined via measurement with a thermal or coil resistance sensor. The sensor provides the drive's servo controller with the drive temperature. The current operating temperature of the disk drive, in combination with its modal sensitivity to thermal changes, are used to regularly update the servo controller. With this information, the servo controller calculates new butterfly mode characteristics as the operating temperature changes in order to actively compensate for the mode, and thus increase the performance of the disk drive.

Abstract: A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for determining a transducer position in relation to a media surface is described. The method comprises sensing positioning information on the media, measuring a position error signal from the sensed positioning information wherein the position error signal includes first and second position signal components, accessing stored information describing a non-linear relationship between the measured position error signal and the transducer position, and applying the stored relationship to the measured position error signal to produce a corrected position error signal, and determining the transducer position from the corrected position error signal.

Abstract: A method, apparatus, and an article of manufacture for calibrating a position error signal for controlling the position of a read transducer with respect to a storage media having positioning information written at a location thereon. In one embodiment, the invention is embodied in a method comprising determining a relationship between a read transducer position and the positioning information by measuring the positioning information while passing the read transducer across the location, determining a measured position error signal from the measured positioning information, and computing a relationship between the measured position error signal and the read transducer position.

Abstract: A disk drive system includes a servo system for driving mechanical parts, including a read/write head, to a desired track on a disk. The mechanical parts undesirably resonate at a frequency f, where f is a function of a temperature t of those mechanical parts. The servo system includes a notch filter responsive to an indication of temperature t, to attenuate the amplitude of frequency f in a broadband control signal that is applied to move the mechanical parts.

Abstract: A method for writing circular track position information on a magnetic recording disk comprising the steps of (i) rotating the magnetic recording disk, and (ii) aerodynamically floating in a helium atmosphere a magnetic recording head adjacent to the disk and writing with the head circular track position information on the disk.

Abstract: A notch filter for a disk drive servo system is disclosed having selectable filtering capability. Different servo notch filters for different heads in the actuator head stack are provided. The notch filters may be selected to remove different resonant modes associated with the different disk drive heads. Each of the plurality of notch filters is tuned to remove a resonant frequency associated with at least one magnetic head of the disk drive. In operation, a notch filter is selected to remove a resonant frequency associated with a magnetic head commanded to write or read data to or from the disk drive. The notch filter system includes a multiplexor for controlling the selection of the notch filters. The multiplexor receives commands from a servo processor to control the selection of a notch filter. Different notch filters can be utilized, including series tapped notch filters or parallel notch filters.

Abstract: An actuator assembly for a magnetic storage system wherein the end arms are dynamically tuned to reduce the modes of vibration on the actuator to improve the performance and stability of the actuator assembly in the magnetic storage system. In one embodiment, the upper and lower outer arms of the actuator assembly are thinned in the same or similar locations. In another embodiment, the upper and lower outer arms of the actuator assembly are notched at high strain energy points to reduce the stiffness of the outer arms. In still another embodiment, the upper and lower outer arms of the actuator assembly are both notched and thinned at the same or similar locations.