Abstract: A method of manufacturing a magnetic recording medium, comprises steps of providing a non-magnetic substrate for a magnetic medium, the substrate including at least one major surface having a contact start/stop (CSS) or landing zone and a data zone; and forming a pattern of recesses in the substrate surface in said CSS or landing zone by embossing utilizing a stamper having a surface including a negative image pattern of said pattern of recesses. Embodiments of the invention include magnetic media comprising a non-magnetic substrate including at least one major surface having a contact start/stop (CSS) or landing zone and a data zone, said substrate surface in said CSS or landing zone comprising an embossed pattern of recesses. In addition, the data zone of the substrate surface may include an embossed servo pattern formed simultaneously with the embossed pattern of recesses formed in the landing zone.

Abstract: A data handling system that effectively detects and diagnoses manifestations of excessive transducer instability. For example, some embodiments identify shouldering and baseline pop instabilities in a digital servo channel. A preferred method of the present invention involves detecting a precise time at which a first feature in the received signal is encountered. Then, after a preset delay, a first level of the received signal is sampled. Then, after waiting until after a second feature in the received signal occurs, a second level of the received signal is sampled. Finally, at least one digital signal is generated so as to indicate whether an arithmetic combination of the first and second levels falls outside a stability-indicative range. A preferred device of the present invention includes a transducer, a peak detector configured to receive a signal from the transducer, two delay elements, two sampling circuits, and an output.

Abstract: A robust and efficient method for determining the location of a transducer head in a mass storage system. A position-indicative signal characterized by a fundamental frequency F is received from a data path including the transducer head. Energy in the signal at frequencies smaller than F/10 is substantially attenuated by a special filter, which may be an analog or digital differentiator. A sequence of bits indicative of the transducer head position indicator is then extracted from the digitized, filtered signal.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for compensating for repeatable run-out errors in a disc drive is disclosed. The compensation is created by determining transfer function values for a servo loop in the drive as well as a sequence of repeatable run-out values for a portion of a disc. The repeatable run-out values are divided by respective transfer function values to produce compensation values that are inverse transformed to produce time-domain compensation values. These time-domain compensation values are injected into the servo loop to compensate for repeatable run-out errors.