Abstract: Provided is a method, system, and storage library for storing data. A data storage cartridge includes a data storage device and the data storage device includes a storage medium and a power supply. A transfer station includes an interface capable of mating with the data storage cartridge to perform data transfer operations with respect to the storage medium in the data storage device.

Abstract: A data storage cartridge having an data storage device, such as an encased magnetic disk drive assembly, is, in one embodiment, of generally an exterior dimensional form factor of a tape cartridge having a leader block with a hole therethrough for engagement by a threading pin. To distinguish the cartridge from a tape cartridge, the cartridge shell comprises a blocking portion at the location of the leader block hole. A transfer station both identifies the cartridge and indicates the presence of the cartridge at an end of travel in a cartridge receiver, employing an optical source and an opposed sensor directed toward the leader block hole when a cartridge is at the end of travel. In another embodiment, an encased magnetic disk drive assembly is supported and mounted in a cartridge shell by a shock mount.

Abstract: A track following servo system is disclosed for use with magnetic tape systems in which magnetic servo track patterns contain transitions recorded at more than on azimuthal orientation across the width of the servo track. The timing of a signal derived from reading at any point across the width of such a pattern varies continuously as the read head is moved across the servo track. The pattern is read by a servo read head whose width is small compared to the servo track pattern. The combination of a wide servo pattern and a narrow servo read head offers excellent position sensing linearity and dynamic range. In the preferred embodiment, the servo read head is also narrow with respect to the data tracks, which provides the additional advantages of superior immunity to position sensing errors caused by defects or temporal variations in the servo read head, defects in the servo pattern on the tape, wear of the head or tape, or debris collection on the head or tape.

Abstract: A lapping monitor for monitoring the lapping of a lapping surface of a body having at least one transducer which has a height that has to be lapped. The lapping monitor has a lap unit for lapping the lapping surface, at least one lapping indicator mounted close to the transducer to indicate the height of the transducer and a control block in the body at a certain distance from the lapping indicator or indicators. It is also possible to use a property of the transducers themselves, e.g., their resistance, to indicate their height. The control block receives indication of the height of the transducers being lapped from the lapping indicators or from the transducers via an electrical connection. The control block is further equipped with test contacts for establishing an external connection.

Abstract: Flying height Adjustment for Air Bearing Sliders An air bearing slider for sliding over a medium surface of a recording medium and having an air bearing surface facing the disk surface, a back surface perpendicular to the air bearing surface and a head at the back surface. During operation the head is maintained at a flying height above the disk surface with the aid of a flying height adjustment mechanism consisting of one or more ducts, each having an inlet at the air bearing surface and an outlet at the back surface. A valve mechanism controls an air flow through the duct or ducts by opening and closing the valve or valves together or independently. Alternatively, a deformable surface feature located on the back surface of the slider is used to alter the air flow to thus control the flying height. The mechanism of the invention allows one to achieve accurate flying height control in a range between 5 and 50 nm and between 0 nm and 15 nm as required for near-field or contact disk drives.

Abstract: A track following servo system is disclosed for use with magnetic tape systems in which magnetic servo track patterns contain transitions recorded at more than on azimuthal orientation across the width of the servo track. The timing of a signal derived from reading at any point across the width of such a pattern varies continuously as the read head is moved across the servo track. The pattern is read by a servo read head whose width is small compared to the servo track pattern. The combination of a wide servo pattern and a narrow servo read head offers excellent position sensing linearity and dynamic range. In the preferred embodiment, the servo read head is also narrow with respect to the data tracks, which provides the additional advantages of superior immunity to position sensing errors caused by defects or temporal variations in the servo read head, defects in the servo pattern on the tape, wear of the head or tape, or debris collection on the head or tape.

Abstract: A capacitor powered electronic emergency device retracts and parks an actuator into a resistive parking position with a crash stop barrier. Due to variations of the kinetic status of the actuator at the begin of the retraction, the actuator reaches the resistive parking position with different velocities, which can be at a level that causes the actuator to bounce off the crash stop barrier. A modulating pulsing of the energy flow extends the discharge time of the capacitor long enough to provide sufficient energy to compensate an eventual bounce-off. The use of transistors in the device keeps the internal energy consumption low. An increase of the pulsing frequency in dependence on the capacitor voltage results in a high average current flow.

Abstract: A lift tab for a load/unload type of data storage hard drive and a method of smoothing the lift tab. The method includes the step of striking the lift tab with short duration (e.g. 10-500 nanosecond) energy pulses to melt a thin surface layer of the lift tab. The melted layer flows under surface tension forces, smoothing out bumps and scratches. The melted layer quickly refreezes, forming an exceptionally smooth melted and refrozen spot. Preferably, the melted and refrozen spot is 0.2-10 microns deep. More preferably, the melted and refrozen spot is in the range of 1.0 to 3.0 microns thick. The lift tab can have a large number of melted and refrozen spots. The size of the melted and refrozen spots is practically limited by power available from energy sources such as lasers. Preferably, the melted and refrozen spots are at least several tens of microns in diameter. The present invention includes lift tabs having melted and refrozen spots.

Abstract: A track following servo system is disclosed for use with magnetic tape systems in which magnetic servo track patterns contain transitions recorded at more than on azimuthal orientation across the width of the servo track. The timing of a signal derived from reading at any point across the width of such a pattern varies continuously as the read head is moved across the servo track. The pattern is read by a servo read head whose width is small compared to the servo track pattern. The combination of a wide servo pattern and a narrow servo read head offers excellent position sensing linearity and dynamic range. In the preferred embodiment, the servo read head is also narrow with respect to the data tracks, which provides the additional advantages of superior immunity to position sensing errors caused by defects or temporal variations in the servo read head, defects in the servo pattern on the tape, wear of the head or tape, or debris collection on the head or tape.

Abstract: A bistable micromechanical switch that includes a substrate, at least two anchor points formed on the substrate, and a beam structure that includes a two-material beam attached to at least two anchor points. The two-material beam has a first portion, a second portion and a center portion. The first portion of the two-material beam is formed from a first layer of a first material and a second layer of a second material such that the first layer of the first portion is proximate to the surface of the substrate and the second layer of the first portion is remote from the surface of the substrate. The first material has a first coefficient of thermal expansion and the second material has a second coefficient of thermal expansion such that the second coefficient of thermal expansion is greater than the first coefficient of thermal expansion.

Abstract: A head-disk interface tester for magnetic recording disk drives uses a rotary voice coil motor (VCM) actuator and a rotating laser beam that rotates with the actuator to accurately move the head to the desired position and with the desired velocity. A diode laser is located on the rotating actuator and directs a laser beam through the pivot axis of the actuator. The laser beam is received by a linear position detector. The detector provides position data which is used by control circuitry to move the actuator to the position determined by the user or according to a velocity determined by the user. The rotary VCM actuator is mounted on an adjustable stage that allows the height of the actuator to be varied, as well as the distance between the actuator pivot axis and the spindle motor rotation axis to be varied.

Abstract: A magnetic disk with nonmagnetic information encoded under, in or above the magnetic layer of the disk is described along with the disk drive using the magnetic disks. The information may be stored as a series of laser-written marks (e.g., bumps, oxidized spots or spots with altered reflectivity) upon the surface(s) of each disk of the disk stack. The set of marks may be a series of laser bumps which serve a dual purpose as a landing zone or contact start/stop (CSS) zone for the slider and as encoded identifying information. During the manufacturing process for disk drives containing the disks, each disk's identifier can be read using outboard equipment such as an HRF tester or by means contained in the drive itself. Each disk identifier can then be stored magnetically in a special region of the hard disk reserved for use by the drive and/or within the flash memory of the hard drive. The drive can then communicate the identifier(s) to a host computer using the conventional communication hardware and firmware.

Abstract: A miniature removable disk drive that meets the CompactFlash type II form factor and interface specifications uses a composite sheet metal/plastic tub-shaped base for supporting the disk drive components, e.g., the spindle motor with attached disk, the voice coil motor actuator with attached read/write head, and the preamplifier/write driver electronics module. The composite base is a metal plate with a flange extending around its perimeter and a plastic frame that encapsulates the flange and surrounds the perimeter of the metal plate. The metal plate supports the disk drive spindle motor and voice coil motor actuator and is made of high magnetic permeability, low coercivity material so that it can form part of the magnetic circuit of the spindle motor and/or actuator. The flanges on the metal plate provide rigidity and allow the base to be fabricated by injection molding the plastic frame onto the metal base so that the plastic encapsulates the metal flanges to form the walls of the tub-shaped base.

Abstract: A data recording disk drive uses a circuit responsive to the removal of power to the spindle motor to generate a two-stage torque to retract the actuator and move it to a parking ramp. The spindle motor power removal circuit sends an initial signal to a first switch connected to a full-wave rectifier retract circuit and, after a predetermined delay time, a second signal to a second switch also connected to the rectifier circuit. Activation of the first switch causes only a portion of the available current from the spindle motor windings to reach the actuator, so that the actuator is moved with an initial low-level torque which is sufficient to bring the actuator to the disk OD of the disk under all circumstances. Activation of the second switch a predetermined delay time later allows all available current to reach the actuator so the actuator is then moved with a high-level torque which is sufficient to properly park the sliders on the load/unload ramp under all conditions.

Abstract: A track following servo system is disclosed for use with magnetic tape systems in which magnetic servo track patterns contain transitions recorded at more than on azimuthal orientation across the width of the servo track. The timing of a signal derived from reading at any point across the servo track. The pattern is read by a servo read head whose width is small compared to the servo track pattern. The combination of a wide servo pattern and a narrow servo read head offers excellent position sensing linearity and dynamic range. In the preferred embodiment, the servo read head is also narrow with respect to the data tracks, which provides the additional advantages of superior immunity to position sensing errors caused by defects or temporal variations in the servo read head, defects in the servo pattern on the tape, wear of the head or tape, or debris collection on the head or tape.

Abstract: Disclosed is a magnetic tape media having addressing data information superimposed on prerecorded track following servo information. The servo information is recorded in magnetic flux transition patterns defining at least one longitudinal servo track. A servo burst pattern of at least two repeated pairs of non-parallel magnetic flux transitions is provided, at least one of which transitions is slanted or otherwise continuously longitudinally variable across the width of the servo track. At least two transitions of the repeated pairs are shifted longitudinally with respect to other of the transitions, the shifted transitions comprising the superimposed addressing data information.

Abstract: Disclosed is a coding technique which takes advantage of the use of an internal synchronization technique for a timing-based servo which employs alternating 4 and 5 transition bursts of servo to provide a simplified synchronization of the data, and comprises a coding technique which employs a periodic pattern of bursts each period comprising two bursts of 5 transitions followed by two bursts of 4 transitions. The code provides, in each burst of 5 transitions, two defined positions for the 2nd and 4th transitions, spaced from equally spaced positions in the burst, to represent each of two bit values. The code provides, in each burst of 4 transitions, two defined positions for the 2nd and 3rd transitions, spaced from equally spaced positions in the burst, to represent each of two bit values.

Abstract: A contact start/stop (CSS) magnetic recording disk drive has a highly textured head easier landing zone on the disk and uses a start/stop precedure that minimize both the time the carrier is in contact with the landing zone and the disk rotational speed during contact. The disk landing zone is textured with a pattern of laser-induced bumps that define a surface higher than the surface of the disk data region. At disk drive start-up and power-down, the head carrier exits and enters the landing zone at a predetermined disk rotational speed selected such that the air-bearing surface of the head carrier is still in contact with the surface of the landing zone but is flying in the data region. This limits the amount of time the carrier spends in contact with the textured surface and minimizes the disk speed when it is in contact.

Abstract: A track following servo system is disclosed for use with magnetic tape systems in which magnetic servo track patterns contain transitions recorded at more than one azimuthal orientation across the width of the servo track. The timing of a signal derived from reading at any point across the width of such a pattern varies continuously as the read head is moved across the servo track. The pattern is read by a servo read head whose width is small compared to the servo track pattern. The combination of a wide servo pattern and a narrow servo read head offers excellent position sensing linearity and dynamic range. In the preferred embodiment, the servo read head is also narrow with respect to the data tracks, which provides the additional advantages of superior immunity to position sensing errors caused by defects or temporal variations in the servo read head, defects in the servo pattern on the tape, wear of the head or tape, or debris collection on the head or tape.