Abstract: An apparatus for the linear translation of read/write heads in a data recording system is disclosed herein. The apparatus comprises a compound parallel bending element suspension with a driver connected thereto. The compound parallel suspension comprises two sets of cantilevered bendable elements. One end of each bendable element is attached to a movable connector to connect the elements together. The other ends of two bendable elements are attached to a non-movable support post. The other ends of the remaining two elements are connected to the read/write head assembly and driver. The driver can be any of a number of conventional stepping and voice coil motor configurations including but not limited to friction drives, taut band drives, rack and pinion drives.