Method and apparatus for predicting write failure resulting from flying height modulation
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsDavid H. Jen, Mike Suk
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for predicting write failure resulting from flying height modulation and initiating re-writing of data upon occurrence of the predicted write failure is disclosed. According to the present invention, if the slider or transducer flying height modulates during the write process, such modulation is detected, and a rewrite of the same data is forced. A write reassign may be initiated when a thermal signal exceeding the predetermined threshold is detected during the rewrite and/or a read/verify may be initiated after the rewrite.
Claims35
A controller, comprising a processor for controlling a write operation and for receiving a thermal signal from a read channel, wherein the processor compares the thermal signal to a predetermined threshold to determine whether to initiate a re-write operation.
A disk drive, comprising:
- a processor for controlling reading and writing of data on a data recording medium;
- a write channel for processing write signals for recording on the data recording medium;
- and
- a read channel for reading data from the data recording medium and for providing a thermal signal representing flying height variation;
- wherein the processor compares the thermal signal to a predetermined threshold to determine whether to initiate a re-write operation.
A method for predicting write failure resulting from flying height modulation, comprising:
- initiating a write operation for writing data to a recording medium;
- monitoring a read channel during the write operation;
- comparing a thermal signal from the read channel to a predetermined threshold;
- and
- re-writing the data if the thermal signal exceeds the predetermined threshold.
An article of manufacture comprising a program storage medium readable by a computer, the medium tangibly embodying one or more programs of instructions executable by the computer to perform a method for predicting write failure resulting from flying height modulation, the method comprising:
- initiating a write operation for writing data to a recording medium;
- monitoring a read channel during the write operation;
- comparing a thermal signal from the read channel to a predetermined threshold;
- and
- re-writing the data if the thermal signal exceeds the predetermined threshold.
A disk drive, comprising:
- processor means for controlling reading and writing of data on a data recording medium;
- write channel means for processing write signals for recording on the data recording medium;
- and
- read channel means for reading data from the data recording medium and for providing a thermal signal representing flying height variation;
- wherein the processor means compares the thermal signal to a predetermined threshold to determine whether to initiate a re-write operation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.