Method and apparatus for reducing a suspension gram load to increase head to disk interface reliability for contact recording systems

A actuator having a reduced gram load to increase head to disk interface reliability for contact recording systems comprising:

• a suspension having a suspended slider for reaching over a disk;
• a slider having a read/write head element on a trailing edge (TE) portion, said slider coupled with said suspension;
• an off-center gimbal device coupled with said slider and said suspension, said off-center gimbal device coupled with said suspension and said slider away from the center of said slider and closer to said TE portion of said slider;
• and
• a gram load of said suspension reduced to minimize the friction force during contact of said TE portion with said disk such that when said TE portion of said slider contacts said disk the bouncing motion of said TE portion with respect to said disk is reduced.

A hard disk drive comprising:

• a housing;
• a disk pack mounted to the housing and having a plurality of disks that are rotatable relative to the housing, the disk pack defining an axis of rotation and a radial direction relative to the axis, and the disk pack having a downstream side wherein air flows away from the disks, and an upstream side wherein air flows toward the disk;
• and
• an actuator mounted to the housing and being movable relative to the disk pack, the actuator having a plurality of heads for reading data from and writing data to the disks, said actuator having a plurality of heads and further comprising a suspension having a reduced gram load to increase head to disk interface reliability for contact recording systems comprising:
• a suspension for reaching over a disk;
• a slider having a read/write head element on a trailing edge (TE) portion, said slider coupled with said suspension, said slider having an increased dynamic pitch of approximately 65 microradians or greater, said increased dynamic pitch increasing the height of a leading edge (LE) portion of said slider with respect to said disk and reducing the height of said TE portion of said slider with respect to said disk, wherein vertical motion of said TE portion of said slider does not collapse an air bearing provided by said LE of said slider flying above said disk;
• and
• a gram load of said suspension reduced to less than approximately 1 gram to minimize the friction force during contact of said TE portion with said disk such that when said TE portion of said slider contacts said disk the bouncing motion of said TE portion with respect to said disk is reduced.

A suspension having a reduced gram load to increase head to disk interface reliability for contact recording systems comprising:

• a means for providing a suspension having a suspended slider for reaching over a disk;
• a means for providing a slider having a read/write head element on a trailing edge (TE) portion, said slider coupled with said suspension;
• a means for providing an off-center gimbal device coupled with said slider and said suspension, said off-center gimbal device coupled with said suspension and said slider away from the center of said slider and closer to said TE portion of said slider;
• and
• a means for reducing a gram load of said suspension to less than approximately 1 gram to minimize the friction force during contact of said TE with said disk such that when said TE portion of said slider contacts said disk the bouncing motion of said TE with respect to said disk is reduced.