Disk drive head suspension tail with a noble metal layer disposed on a plurality of structural backing islands

A method of electrically testing a head gimbal assembly (HGA), the method comprising:

• positioning the HGA proximate to an electrical tester, the HGA including a read head and a suspension assembly that comprises a load beam and a laminated flexure, the laminated flexure including a stainless steel layer, a copper trace layer, and a dielectric layer between the stainless steel layer and the copper trace layer, the laminated flexure including a tongue portion that connects to the read head and a flexure tail that extends distally to a flexure tail terminal region, the copper trace layer including a plurality of flexure bond pads in the flexure tail terminal region, the stainless steel layer including a plurality of backing islands, each of the plurality of backing islands aligned with a corresponding one of the plurality of flexure bond pads, each of the plurality of the backing islands including a noble metal testing pad disposed thereon;
• and
• temporarily contacting at least one of the noble metal testing pads with an electrically conductive testing probe of the electrical tester.