Data recording apparatus able to accurately access a floppy disk regardless of recording density
AssigneeKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
InventorsHiromi Hamaoka, Shoji Saito
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A floppy disk drive apparatus capable of using high- and low-density disks includes an erase section. When it is determined that a floppy disk to be used has a high-density, data is immediately written on the floppy disk in response to a write command. However, when it is determined that the floppy disk to be used has a low-density, data, which has previously been recorded on the recording area of the track where the read/write head is currently located, is erased prior to the writing of new data. After erasure is completed, the new data is recorded on the recording area, in response to a write signal.
Claims13
A data recording apparatus including at least one read/write head capable of accurately accessing a floppy disk recording medium regardless of a recording density thereof, said floppy disk medium being rotated, comprising:
- density determining means for determining whether said medium is of a high or low density;
- erase means for selectively erasing data previously recorded on a recording area of a track where said read/right head is currently positioned in accordance with a result determined by said density determining means and a write command input thereto with said erasing being done while a first rotation of said medium is performed;
- write means for selectively writing write data on said recording area in accordance with said result determined by said density determining means and said write command input thereto with said writing being done while a second rotation of said medium is performed;
- and
- erase determining means for determining whether erasure of the recorded data by said erase means has been completed said erase determining means comprising generating means for generating index pulses upon rotation of a spindle and determining means for determining, based on the number of pulses received from said generating means, whether erasure of the recorded data on a recording area has been completed.
A method of accurately accessing a floppy disk regardless of a recording density thereof, using at least one read/write head having a short gap length for a high-density floppy disk, comprising:
- determining whether the floppy disk has a high- or low-density;
- erasing data recorded on a recording area of a track where said read/write head is currently located in response to an input write command when it is determined that the floppy disk is of the low-density;
- determining whether erasure of the data is completed when a second index pulse is input with respect to a single track.
A method of accurately accessing a recording disk medium regardless of a recording density thereof, using at least one read/write head including a core and a coil having first and second terminals and an intermediate terminal, said method comprising the steps of:
- determining whether said medium is of a high- or low-density;
- selectively erasing, in accordance with a result regarding whether said medium is of high- or low-density and a write command, data previously recorded on a recording area of a track on which said read/write head is currently positioned, said erasing being done while a first rotation of said medium is performed, said erasing step including selectively generating an erase control signal in accordance with said result and supplying a constant current from said intermediate terminal of said coil to one of said first and second terminals;
- and
- selectively writing input write data on the recording area in accordance with said result and said write command, while a second rotation of said medium is performed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.