Abstract: The results of a calibration can be stored in a hard disk drive along with a hard disk condition indication. After the hard disk is re-started, it can be checked to see whether the stored hard disk condition indication is sufficiently close to a current hard disk condition indication. If the condition indication is sufficiently close, the stored calibration results can be used.

Abstract: The results of a calibration can be stored in a hard disk drive along with a hard disk condition indication. After the hard disk is re-started, it can be checked to see whether the stored hard disk condition indication is sufficiently close to a current hard disk condition indication. If the condition indication is sufficiently close, the stored calibration results can be used.

Abstract: The results of a calibration can be stored in a hard disk drive along with a hard disk condition indication. After the hard disk is re-started, it can be checked to see whether the stored hard disk condition indication is sufficiently close to a current hard disk condition indication. If the condition indication is sufficiently close, the stored calibration results can be used.

Abstract: Ramp arrangements and methods in accordance with the present invention can provide the position or velocity of an actuator assembly in a rotating media data storage device while loading or unloading a head connected with the actuator assembly from a disk. One such arrangement comprises a conductive ramp electrically coupled to a conductive suspension lift tab such that a closed circuit is formed when the head is unloaded from the disk. As the suspension lift tab slides along the ramp, the resistance of the circuit changes. By measuring multiple positions at multiple times, a head velocity can be determined. This description is not intended to be a complete description of, or limit the scope of, the invention. Other features, aspects, and objects of the invention can be obtained from a review of the specification, the figures, and the claims.

Abstract: Methods in accordance with the present invention can be applied to reduce frictional effects in a bearing of a rotary actuator on the motion dynamics of the rotary actuator. In one such method a disk having a first magnetic servo pattern on a surface written, for example, by a media writer, is rotated at a first frequency. The first magnetic servo pattern is read using a head. A second magnetic servo pattern based on the first magnetic servo pattern can be written to the surface by the head such that the second magnetic servo pattern is defined by the oscillation of the head at a second frequency. This description is not intended to be a complete description of, or limit the scope of, the invention. Other features, aspects, and objects of the invention can be obtained from a review of the specification, the figures, and the claims.

Abstract: Ramp arrangements and methods in accordance with the present invention can provide the position or velocity of an actuator assembly in a rotating media data storage device while loading or unloading a head connected with the actuator assembly from a disk. One such arrangement includes a conductive ramp electrically coupled to a conductive suspension lift tab such that a closed circuit is formed when the head is unloaded from the disk. As the suspension lift tab slides along the ramp, the resistance of the circuit changes. By measuring multiple positions at multiple times, a head velocity can be determined.

Abstract: Attributes of a hard disk drive are stepped between different power consumption levels to optimize the trade-off between minimizing power consumption and maximizing performance depending on whether AC or battery power is used. One attribute is the clock speed which can be changed for a number of disk drive components including the processor, the external interface bus and the memory interface bus. The system power supply voltage can further be changed in a number of components integrated together on an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Further, spindle motor rotation speed can be changed, or the spindle motor spun-down. Further, actuator movement by the VCM can be controlled to provide faster movement during track seek operations when high performance is desired. Additionally, write-back caching parameters are adjusted based on the source of power for the hard drive, be it battery, AC power, or a combination.

Abstract: Systems and methods in accordance with embodiments of the present invention can be applied to determine the position of a ramp relative to an actuator. In one embodiment, a system in accordance with the present invention includes a rotatable medium having a first track assigned to a track located a distance from the ramp, rather than a distance from an average acquire track, thereby maximizing the size of a data region. A track density can be reduced for a given hard disk drive capacity, or alternatively the hard disk drive capacity can be maximized for a given track density.

Abstract: A hard disk drive includes a flash memory and a rotatable disk. During self-test, self-test data is written first to flash and then later written to the rotatable disk. Since the self-test data is stored in the flash, if there is a power failure the hard disk drive can recover without repeating the test.

Abstract: A hard disk drive includes a flash memory and a rotatable disk. During self-test, self-test data is written first to flash and then later written to the rotatable disk. Since the self-test data is stored in the flash, if there is a power failure the hard disk drive can recover without repeating the test.

Abstract: A search engine of a hard disk drive is used to search both a cache list and a defect list.

Abstract: A search engine of a hard disk drive is used to search both cache lists and defect lists.

Abstract: Information relating to the translation of logical block addresses to physical addresses of rotatable storage media can be written to memory or cached. For example, a cache entry can identify a recently requested logical block address, a corresponding physical address, and a range of non-defective sectors. Information such as a number of sectors on a track with a physical address, number of sectors on a surface and in a group with the physical address, and various skew parameters can also be cached. Subsequent requests for addresses falling within a range of identified sectors can be handled without performing all of the typical operations required for logical block address to physical address translation. The number of non-defective sectors can be used to improve logical block address to physical block address translation.

Abstract: Systems and methods in accordance with embodiments can be used to re-write data to a rotatable storage medium. When a position of a write element is not within a threshold during a data write operation, an indication of data written while the position of the element was not within the threshold can be maintained. When the device including the rotatable storage medium is free from other data transfer operations, the data written while the element was not within the threshold can be re-written. In this manner, data that may be considered less reliable due to the misplacement of a write element during a data write operation can be re-written such that the data can be placed closer to a data track centerline.

Abstract: Attributes of a hard disk drive are stepped between different power consumption levels to optimize the trade-off between minimizing power consumption and maximizing performance depending on whether AC or battery power is used. One attribute is the clock speed which can be changed for a number of disk drive components including the processor, the external interface bus and the memory interface bus. The system power supply voltage can further be changed in a number of components integrated together on an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Further, spindle motor rotation speed can be changed, or the spindle motor spun-down. Further, actuator movement by the VCM can be controlled to provide faster movement during track seek operations when high performance is desired. Additionally, write-back caching parameters are adjusted based on the source of power for the hard drive, be it battery, AC power, or a combination.

Abstract: A system for implementing substantially all vendor unique commands in a host computer instead of an electronic storage device. Alternative vendor unique commands are provided to implement a remote procedure call (RPC) protocol to implement vendor unique commands resident in the host computer with functions in the storage device. The storage device functions are substantially only the functions needed for normal, non vendor unique electronic storage device (ESD) operation. To facilitate access from the host computer to ESD functions, data, and constants, a symbol table of the storage device's software is used. The resulting system provides for a smaller code footprint in the storage device and easier to maintain and enhance function in the host computer.

Abstract: A method for implementing substantially all vendor unique commands in a host computer instead of an electronic store device. Alternative vendor unique commands are provided to implement a remote procedure call (RPC) protocol to implement vendor unique commands resident in the host computer with functions in the storage device. The storage device functions are substantially only the functions needed for normal, non vendor unique electronic storage device (ESD) operation. To facilitate access from the host computer to ESD functions, data, and constants, a symbol table of the storage device's software is used. The resulting system provides for a smaller code footprint in the storage device and easier to maintain and enhance function in the host computer.

Abstract: A system for implementing substantially all vendor unique commands in a host computer instead of an electronic storage device. Alternative vendor unique commands are provided to implement a remote procedure call (RPC) protocol to implement vendor unique commands resident in the host computer with functions in the storage device. The storage device functions are substantially only the functions needed for normal, non vendor unique electronic storage device (ESD) operation. To facilitate access from the host computer to ESD functions, data, and constants, a symbol table of the storage device's software is used. The resulting system provides for a smaller code footprint in the storage device and easier to maintain and enhance function in the host computer.

Abstract: A system and method that performs a high speed write and read testing from a simulated host to and from a media of an electronic storage device. In write operations, a FIFO segment which has been previously initialized with a fixed pattern has its slots repeatedly reused to write the media with only a small portion of each sector slot changing from sector to sector. For read operations, a FIFO segment has its slots repeatedly reused to read the media with only a small portion of search sector verified from sector to sector. The data of each sector slot of the FIFO segment may include varying data and fixed data. The varying data may include block address data and time stamp data.

Abstract: A method for implementing substantially all vendor unique commands in a host computer instead of an electronic storage device. Alternative vendor unique commands are provided to implement a remote procedure call (RPC) protocol to implement vendor unique commands resident in the host computer with functions in the storage device. The storage device functions are substantially only the functions needed for normal, non vendor unique electronic storage device (ESD) operation. To facilitate access from the host computer to ESD functions, data, and constants, a symbol table of the storage device's software is used. The resulting system provides for a smaller code footprint in the storage device and easier to maintain and enhance function in the host computer.