Abstract: The present invention may be regarded as a disk drive with protection against damage due to a thermal asperity. The disk drive comprises a disk having a surface with an asperity, and a magneto-resistive head actuated radially over the surface of the disk for generating a read signal comprising a thermal asperity component caused by the magneto-resistive head contacting the asperity on the surface of the disk. A bias generator is provided for generating an electrical bias applied to the magneto-resistive head, and a thermal asperity detector detects the thermal asperity component in the read signal. When the thermal asperity component is detected, the electrical bias is reduced for a time interval, thereby protecting the magneto-resistive head.

Abstract: The magnetic states of MR reproducing heads are reinitialized during media drive manufacturing by applying initializing magnetic fields to the transducers after they have been manufactured and incorporated into media drive assemblies.

Abstract: A capacitive sensor for detecting capacitive contrast servo information on a disk in a data recording disk file includes a center-tapped inductor connected to a high frequency oscillator, a sensing probe formed on the back side of the slider and electrically coupled to one end of the inductor, and a dummy probe also formed on the back side of the slider and electrically connected to the other end of the inductor. The center-tapped inductor forms a primary coil of a transformer so that variations in capacitance sensed by the sensing probe provide a differential output signal in the inductor which is sensed by the transformer secondary coil. The probes, and their electrically conductive leads and terminal pads, are formed by thin film deposition techniques on the back side of the slider and are located with respect to the inductive read/write head so as to equally receive any noise generated by the read/write head.