Disk drive measuring pole tip protrusion by performing a write operation to heat the transducer
AssigneeWestern Digital Technologies, Inc.
InventorsShih Min Liu, Galvin T. Chia
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A disk drive is disclosed which generates a pole tip protrusion (PTP) measurement by performing a write operation to heat the transducer while measuring a fly height of the transducer. A first data sequence written to the disk is read without heating the transducer to generate a first signal measurement. A second data sequence is then written to the disk in order to heat the transducer, and the first data sequence is again read to generate a second signal measurement. The PTP measurement is then generated in response to the first and second signal measurements.
Claims16
A disk drive comprising:
- (a) a disk;
- (b) a slider comprising a transducer actuated over the disk for generating a write signal when writing data to the disk and for generating a read signal when reading data from the disk;
- and
- (c) a disk controller for generating a pole tip protrusion (PTP) measurement by:
- writing a first data sequence along a first section of the disk;
- reading the first data sequence from the first section during a first read operation and generating a first signal measurement;
- heating the transducer by writing a second data sequence along a second section of the disk preceding the first section, wherein heating the transducer causes at least part of the slider to protrude toward the disk;
- while the part of the slider is protruding toward the disk, reading the first data sequence from the first section during a second read operation and generating a second signal measurement;
- and
- generating the PTP measurement in response to the first and second signal measurements.
A method of generating a pole tip protrusion (PTP) measurement for a disk drive, the disk drive comprising a disk and a slider having a transducer actuated over the disk for generating a write signal when writing data to the disk and for generating a read signal when reading data from the disk, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) writing a first data sequence along a first section of the disk;
- (b) reading the first data sequence from the first section during a first read operation and generating a first signal measurement;
- (c) heating the transducer by writing a second data sequence along a second section of the disk preceding the first section, wherein heating the transducer causes at least part of the slider to protrude toward the disk;
- (d) while the part of the slider is protruding toward the disk, reading the first data sequence from the first section during a second read operation and generating a second signal measurement;
- and
- (e) generating the PTP measurement in response to the first and second signal measurements.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.