Head positioning in storage system during periods of inactivity
AssigneeSeagate Technology LLC
InventorsMonty A. Forehand, William C. Little, Mukund C. Rao, Krishna R. Malakapalli, Mark A. Gaertner, Todd P. Fracek, Dallas W. Meyer, Brian W. Sudman, Joseph S. Stoutenburgh, Jr.
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Abstract
A magnetic disc storage system includes a magnetic storage disc and a transducing head. During periods of inactivity the transducing head is dithered whereby the head is moved to tracks on the disc according to a number of criteria. The criteria includes wear reduction, power reduction, avoidance of textured zones, head cycling, increased fly height and clearing of debris carried on the head.
Claims17
A magnetic disc storage system for storing magnetically encoded information, comprising:
- a magnetic disc having a disc surface for carrying the magnetically encoded information on a plurality of annular tracks including an outer track of maximum radius, the disc surface further including an annular textured zone and a dither region interposed between and spaced apart from the annular textured zone, and the outer track;
- a spindle motor coupled to the disc to thereby cause rotation of the disc;
- a head proximate the disc surface adapted for flying over the disc surface as the disc rotates and providing a readback signal in response to the magnetically encoded information;
- an actuator coupled to the head to move the head in a radial direction thereby moving the head over the plurality of tracks and the textured zone;
- readback circuitry coupled to the readback signal for processing the readback signal and providing an information output;
- dither circuitry coupled to the actuator to periodically move the head over different tracks in the dither region while avoiding the textured zone during periods of inactivity.
A method of controlling movement of a head over a disc surface in a magnetic disc storage system, comprising:
- a) detecting a period of inactivity;
- b) repeatedly, periodically moving the head to different tracks in a dither region disposed between and spaced from a first track of minimum radius on the disc surface and a second track of maximum radius on the disc surface during the period of inactivity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.