Abstract: A disk drive 100 capable of receiving a cartridge 20 having a disk 42 with a diameter of about 3.5 inches which can contain at least 105 megabytes of data includes an operating mechanism 112 for initiating and controlling the positioning of an actuator arm 176 upon which is mounted a read/write transducer 178. The position of a spindle motor 224 which is used to spin up the disk 42 contained in the cartridge 20 to an operating speed, the locking of the cartridge 20 in the disk drive 100 in an operating mode and the ejection of the cartridge 20 from the drive 100. The operating mechanism 112 can function to eject the cartridge 20 whether or not the drive 100 is powered up in order to be able to remove the cartridge 20 and transport it to another disk drive 100 or to a secured location in a plane substantially parallel to the disk 42 contained in the cartridge 20.

Abstract: A disk drive 100 capable of receiving a cartridge 20 having a disk 42 with a diameter of about 3.5 inches which can contain at least 105 megabytes of data includes an operating mechanism 112 for initiating and controlling the positioning of an actuator arm 176 upon which is mounted a read/write transducer 178, the position of a spindle motor 224 which is used to spin up the disk 42 contained in the cartridge 20 to an operating speed, the locking of the cartridge 20 in the disk drive 100 in an operating mode and the ejection of the cartridge 20 from the drive 100. The operating mechanism 112 can function to eject the cartridge 20 whether or not the drive 100 is powered up in order to be able to remove the cartridge 20 and transport it to another disk drive 100 or to a secured location.

Abstract: A removable cartridge for a disk drive where the cartridge has a housing, a disk contained within the housing and a mechanism for reducing the rattling of the disk when the cartridge is not inside the disk drive and for permitting the free rotation of the disk when the cartridge is inside the disk drive. The rattle-reduction mechanism includes an inclined surface defined in the housing and a member having a first portion and a second portion. The interaction between the second portion of the member and the inclined surface of the housing may cause the first portion of the member to move into and out of contact with the hub. The contact between the first portion and the hub reduces the tendency of the disk to rattle. In one example embodiment, the cartridge has a housing with cartridge nut threads and a cartridge screw with cartridge screw threads.

Abstract: An anti-rattle mechanism for a disk cartridge addressing the problems of particulate generation which occur in disk cartridges when a disk assembly moves around inside the cartridge contacting the cartridge walls. The anti-rattle mechanism includes an anti-rattle ring which is movable by a cam surface between a clamping position and a released position. When the disk cartridge is outside of a disk drive, the anti-rattle mechanism is in a clamping position to completely or partially captivate the disk assembly within the cartridge. As the disk cartridge is inserted into the disk drive, the anti-rattle mechanism moves to a released configuration where a disk is freely rotatable within the cartridge. The anti-rattle mechanism is moved between the clamping position and the released position by rotation of a movable door.

Abstract: A headerless, fault-tolerant sample-data servo pattern, comprising an alternating sequence of first and second servo sectors, with the first servo sectors each including a partial track address and circumferential orientation information, and the second servo sectors each including a full track address, provides an absolute indication of a read/write head's circumferential orientation along a given track on a magnetic disk which is robust in the presence of defects in the magnetic recording medium.

Abstract: A cartridge adapted to be inserted into a disk drive where the disk drive includes a read/write head and a finger for engaging the cartridge. The cartridge includes a housing defining a cartridge door port and a door control port, a rotatable media within the housing, a door that rotates about a pivot point between a closed position and an open position, a portion of the door blocking access to the rotatable media through the cartridge door port when the door is closed, and a door opening link having a first end and a second end, the first end being coupled to the door closer to the pivot point of the door than to the portion of the door that blocks the cartridge door port, the second end being movable between a closed location and an open location. The door is in the closed position when the second end of the door opening link is in the closed location, and the door is in the open position when the second end of the door opening link is in the open location.

Abstract: A method for applying an optimal seeking technique to a disk file with excessive repeatable runout includes a method of modifying a control signal for a rotary actuator arm of a disk drive. The control signal is modified during track seeking by adding a runout state that is calculated each time a servo sector of a target data track on a surface of a disk is sampled by read/write heads carried by the actuator arm. A calibration algorithm can be used during track following to determine runout magnitude and runout phase at various preselected calibration tracks on the surface of the disk. A seeking algorithm can be implemented to compensate for the relative runout magnitude and phase variations between present and target tracks.

Abstract: A disk drive (30) conforms to the 1.8 inch form factor through of use of, for example, a removable cartridge (200) which has a disk (220) mounted on the hub (226) which hub (226) is manipulatable by a multifunction handle (58) of the disk drive (30), allowing the hub (226) to be seated on the spindle motor nose (56) of the disk drive (30). The multifunction handle (58) of the drive (30) provides for a compact, high capacity design by performing cartridge hub seating operations, cartridge ejection operations, head arm assembly unlocking operations, and handle locking and unlocking operations to ensure proper operation of the disk drive (30). The disk drive (30) includes an inventive ramp (66) design which allows the head arm assembly (64) to be initially received within the cartridge (200) as the cartridge (200) is inserted into its final registration position in the disk drive receiving mechanism (53) and to be more tangent with respect to the disk (220).

Abstract: A cartridge 52 adapted for being inserted into a disk drive 50 includes a housing 70 which contains a disk 256 mounted for rotation and an interlocking device 90 defined in the housing 70 and adapted for automatically lockingly positioning the cartridge 52 in the disk drive 50 as the cartridge 52 comes to a final position relative to the disk drive 50. The interlocking device 90 includes an element 90 which is defined in the cartridge housing 70 in the direction which is substantially across the direction of insertion of the cartridge 82 into the drive 50. The interlocking device 90 includes a recess 90 for lockingly positioning the cartridge 52 which recess 90 includes an opening 360 disposed through the front edge 98 of the cartridge 52 and which is directed therefrom in a direction which is substantially across the direction of insertion of the cartridge 52 into the drive 50.

Abstract: 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.

Abstract: A removable cartridge (200) for a disk drive (30) which has a 1.8 inch form factor, has multifunction features which allow for high data storage capacity at a reduced size. The cartridge (200) includes a cartridge screw (206) which engages the cartridge nut (221) defined in the cartridge housing base (204) for allowing the disk (220) in the cartridge (200) to be positioned relative to the cartridge housing base (204) in order to successfully engage the spindle motor nose (56) of a disk drive (30). The cartridge screw (206) additionally prevents the disk (220) from rattling within the cartridge (200) whether the cartridge (200) is removed from the disk drive (30).

Abstract: A removable cartridge disk drive includes a removable cartridge adapted to be received by a disk drive having a base plate and right and left guide walls. The cartridge inserts into the drive at an angle with the aid of a movable slider attached to one of the guide walls. Once inserted, the cartridge is locked in and held. During operation, a rotary actuator arm with adjustable angular orientation loads one or more read/write heads off of a fixed ramp onto the surface of a data storage disk contained inside the cartridge. After read/write operations are finished, the head is unloaded onto the fixed ramp and the cartridge is ejected from the drive at an angle.

Abstract: A method for applying an adaptive feed-forward waveform correction to a primary servo loop compensation signal in a rotating data storage apparatus. A position error signal is used to determine a fixed feed-forward correction upon initialization or other predetermined conditions. An adaptive feed-forward waveform correction is periodically determined by adding a scaled version of the position error signal to the stored adaptive feed-forward value, and then processing the resulting sum through a frequency selective filter. The stored adaptive feed-forward correction is then updated with this new result. Simultaneously, the updated adaptive feed-forward correction is combined with the fixed feed-forward correction and the position error signal to generate a primary servo loop compensation signal for controlling the read/write head of the data storage apparatus.

Abstract: A disk drive 50 for receiving a removable cartridge 52 containing a disk 256 for storing data. The disk drive 50 includes a spindle motor 102 for engaging and causing the disk 256 of the cartridge 52 to spin at an appropriate speed and a mechanism 168 for mounting the spindle motor 102 to the disk drive 50 so that the spindle 102 motor is movable from a first position out of engagement with the disk 256 to a second position operably engaged with the disk 256. The spindle motor 102 can thus move in a plane which is not coplaner with the cartridge receiving plane. The disk drive further includes an ejecting mechanism 106 for engaging and lockingly holding the cartridge 52 in place in the cartridge receiver 60 and for ejecting the cartridge from the cartridge receiver 60.

Abstract: A disk drive employing a voice coil actuator to position a read/write head over a magnetic disk retracts the read/write head from the magnetic disk surface and passes an audio frequency alternating current through the voice coil to produce a corresponding movement in the read/write head support structure which generates an audible tone indicating the disk drive status. The alternating current waveform has a positive phase and a negative phase, with the read/write head moving toward the disk in response to one phase of the current and the read/write head moving away from the disk in response to the other phase. Audible tones of different frequencies are produced by varying the frequency of the alternating current waveform. In this fashion the disk drive generates a predetermined sequence of tones separated by silent pauses which identifies a particular disk drive status condition.

Abstract: An alternating "A/B" servo burst pattern for measuring and compensating for offset of the track centerline due to differential magnetic influence to the servo pattern, and a switching network to alternate the output of the servo system demodulators between the inverting and non-inverting terminals of a differential amplifier so that electrical distortion is minimized.

Abstract: A removable cartridge 200 for a disk drive 30 which has a 1.8 inch form factor, has multifunction features which allow for high data storage capacity at a reduced size. The cartridge 200 includes a cartridge screw 206 which engages the cartridge nut 221 defined in the cartridge housing base 204 for allowing the disk 220 in the cartridge 200 to be positioned relative to the cartridge housing base 204 in order to successfully engage the spindle motor nose 56 of a disk drive 30. The cartridge screw 206 additionally prevents the disk 220 from rattling within the cartridge 200 whether the cartridge 200 is removed from the disk drive 30. The cartridge 200 further includes a multiplicity of projections 212, 214, 214, tang 208 and rails 216 which contact the drive 30 to perform the functions of proper reception and registration of the cartridge 200 in the cartridge receiving mechanism 53 of the disk drive 30 and proper operation of the cartridge 200 as the cartridge 200 is manipulated by the disk drive 30.