Serpentine seeks during data storage device idle periods

A data storage device comprising:

• a rotatable data recording surface divided into at least first and second concentric zones, the first zone adjacent an outermost diameter (OD) of the data recording surface and the second zone adjacent an innermost diameter (ID) of the data recording surface;
• a data transducer configured to be positioned adjacent data tracks within each of the first and second zones to write data thereto and read data therefrom;
• and
• a control circuit configured to detect an idle condition passage of a selected, uninterrupted amount of time since execution of a most recently received host access command by the data storage device, identify an initial radial position of the data transducer including a selected one of the first or second zones adjacent which the data transducer is disposed, and to perform a serpentine seek operation during the idle condition to gradually advance the data transducer from the initial radial position to a final radial position located in the remaining one of the first or second zones, the serpentine seek operation requiring at least one full second of elapsed time during which the transducer is moved away from the initial radial position and toward the final radial position, the serpentine seek operation comprising a succession of relatively short seeks each moving the data transducer from a different initial data track to different destination data track on the data recording surface between the initial radial position and the final radial position, the discrete serpentine seek operation including a relatively short dwell time on each of the different destination data tracks between successive pairs of the relatively short seeks so that the data transducer remains on each of the different destination tracks less than a full revolution of the data recording surface.

A hard disc drive, comprising:

• a rotatable magnetic recording medium having a data recording surface divided into at least first and second concentric zones, the first zone adjacent an outermost diameter (OD) of the data recording surface and the second zone adjacent an innermost diameter (ID) of the data recording surface;
• a data transducer configured to write data to and read data from various data tracks disposed in the respective first and second zones;
• a closed loop servo control circuit configured to position the data transducer adjacent the various data tracks disposed in the respective first and second zones, the closed loop responsive to commands stored in a command queue;
• and
• a serpentine seek controller circuit configured to, responsive to detection of an idle condition of host device inactivity for the data storage device, transfer one or more seek commands to the command queue to execute a serpentine seek operation during the idle condition to gradually advance the data transducer from an initial radial position in a selected one of the first or second zones to a final radial position located in the remaining one of the first or second zones, the serpentine seek operation passing across a radial midpoint of the data recording surface between the first and second zones and requiring at least one full second of elapsed time and at least 100 revolutions of the data recording surface during which the transducer is moved away from the initial radial position and toward the final radial position, the serpentine seek operation comprising a single continuous velocity controlled seek of the data transducer during which the data transducer is accelerated away from the initial radial position, maintained at a maximum velocity, and decelerated to the final radial position.