Magnetic characteristic inspecting apparatus and inspecting method using it

A magnetic characteristic inspecting apparatus having an ability to inspect writable or readable magnetic disks or magnetic heads, comprising:

• disk rotating devices that rotate a magnetic disk;
• magnetic heads to be placed on respective magnetic disks mounted on the respective disk rotating devices;
• write signal production units that produce a write signal to be applied to each of the magnetic disks by each of the magnetic heads;
• and
• measurement units each including a plurality of kinds of measurement resources that assess the characteristics of the waveform of a reproduced signal which corresponds to the write signal read from each of the magnetic disks, wherein:
• the disk rotating devices include a plurality of independent disk rotating devices;
• and
• the measurement resources include at least one type of measurement resources usable for inspections of both of the disk rotating devices, further comprising:
• a switching/distribution control unit that controls the connectional relationship of the plurality of magnetic heads to the write signal production units and the measurement units;
• and
• a disk rotating device selecting element that selects one of the plurality of disk rotating devices synchronously to which each of the measurement resources included in the measurement units will operate.

A magnetic characteristic inspecting apparatus, comprising:

• a plurality of disk rotating devices that rotate a magnetic disk;
• magnetic heads to be placed on respective magnetic disks held on the respective disk rotating devices;
• write signal production units that produce a write signal;
• at least one kind of measurement units that assess the characteristics of the waveform of a read signal;
• a switching/distribution control unit that switches or distributes the output signals of the write signal production units and switches or distributes read signals to be transferred to the measurement units;
• and
• a disk rotating device selecting element that selects any of the plurality of disk rotating devices synchronously with which each of the measurement units will operate.

A magnetic characteristic inspecting method for inspecting writable and readable magnetic disks or magnetic heads using a magnetic characteristic inspecting apparatus having an ability to inspect magnetic disks or magnetic heads, wherein:

• the magnetic characteristic inspecting apparatus comprises disk rotating devices that rotate a magnetic disk, magnetic heads to be placed on respective magnetic disks mounted on the respective disk rotating devices, write signal production units that produce a write signal to be applied to each of the magnetic disks by each of the magnetic heads, and measurement units each including a plurality of kinds of measurement resources that assess the characteristics of the waveform of a reproduced signal which corresponds to the write signal read from each of the magnetic disks;
• the disk rotating devices include a plurality of independent disk rotating devices;
• and the measurement resources include at least one type of measurement resources usable for inspections of both the disk driving devices, the magnetic characteristic inspecting method comprising the steps of:
• controlling the connectional relationship of the plurality of magnetic heads to the write signal production units and the measurement units;
• selecting any of the plurality of disk rotating devices synchronously with which each of the measurement resources included in the measurement units will operate;
• and
• using the measurement resources to perform inspection at a timing synchronous with the rotation of the selected disk rotating device.