Method and apparatus to detect and mitigate contamination between a read/write head and a recording medium
AssigneeSeagate Technology LLC
InventorsQun Zang, Meherab Amaria, Ying Lin, Aaron Jacobs, Daniel Brown
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A first adaptive fly height measurement is performed between a read/write head and a recording medium during a stage of qualification testing of a magnetic disk drive. A second adaptive fly height measurement of the read/write head is performed during a subsequent stage of the qualification testing. In response to determining that a fly height decrease between the first and second adaptive fly height measurements is above a threshold value, a mitigation operation is performed to remove a contaminant from a media-facing surface of the read/write head.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- performing a first adaptive fly height measurement between a read/write head and a recording medium during a stage of qualification testing of a magnetic disk drive;
- performing a second adaptive fly height measurement of the read/write head during a subsequent stage of the qualification testing;
- and
- in response to determining that a fly height decrease between the first and second adaptive fly height measurements is above a threshold value, performing a mitigation operation to remove a contaminant from a media-facing surface of the read/write head.
A testing apparatus comprising:
- an interface configured to communicate with a hard disk drive device;
- and
- a processor coupled to the interface and configured to:
- perform a first adaptive fly height measurement between a read/write head and a recording medium during a stage of qualification testing of a magnetic disk drive;
- perform a second adaptive fly height measurement of the read/write head during a subsequent stage of the qualification testing;
- and
- in response to determining that a fly height decrease between the first and second adaptive fly height measurements is above a threshold value, perform a mitigation operation to remove a contaminant from a media-facing surface of the read/write head.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.