Disk drive

Abstract

Embodiments in accordance with the present invention allow a magnetic disk drive to achieve noise reduction and low power consumption through rotation at a low speed and a high transfer rate through rotation at a high speed while allowing reliability to be maintained and achieving an improved recording density. An embodiment of a magnetic disk drive in accordance with the present invention includes, a magnetic disk medium driven at a plurality of rotational speeds, a magnetic head for recording and reproducing data in and from the magnetic disk medium, a heater for controlling a flying height of the magnetic head, and a control unit for controlling the current to the heater, and in that the control unit controls the current to the heater. The control unit controls the current to the heater according to the plurality of rotational speeds.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exemplary block diagram showing a general configuration of a magnetic disk drive according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary block diagram showing a configuration of a magnetic head of the magnetic disk drive according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary sectional view of the magnetic head for explaining the concept of control over a flying height of the magnetic disk drive according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary graph showing a relationship between head flying heights and recording frequencies in the magnetic disk drive according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary conceptual diagram showing a method of controlling the flying height of the magnetic disk drive according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary conceptual illustration showing details of control parameters stored in a memory unit of the magnetic disk drive according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary conceptual illustration showing examples of the control parameters stored in the memory unit of the magnetic disk drive according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims

1. A disk drive comprising: a recording medium driven at a plurality of rotational speeds;a head for recording and reproducing data in and from the recording medium;a heater for controlling a flying height of the head; anda control unit for controlling the current to the heater according to the rotational speeds.

2. A disk drive according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the amount of current to the heater at a high rotating speed of the recording medium becomes greater than the amount of current to the heater at a low rotating speed of the recording medium.

3. A disk drive according to claim 1, wherein the control unit stops the current to the heater when the recording medium rotates at a low speed, and turn on the current to the heater when the recording medium rotates at a high speed.

4. A disk drive according to claim 2, wherein the control unit controls such that the amount of current to the heater during data recording becomes smaller than the amount of current to the heater during data reproduction, and controls such that the difference between the current amount during data reproduction and the current amount during data recording becomes greater when the recording medium is rotating at a high speed than when the recording medium is rotating at a low speed.

5. A disk drive according to claim 2, wherein the control unit controls such that the amount of current to the heater during data recording becomes smaller than the amount of current to the heater during data reproduction, and controls such that the difference between the current amount during data reproduction and the current amount during data recording becomes greater at a high recording frequency than at a low recording frequency.

6. A disk drive according to claim 1, wherein the control unit sets the amount of current to the heater based on at least any one of a cylinder number, the individuality of the head, and the distinction between recording and reproduction, and controls the current amount which is greater when the temperature at the time of operation of the apparatus is low than when the temperature at the time of operation of the apparatus is high.

7. A disk drive according to claim 1, wherein a group of control parameters determining the amount of current to the heater is stored in a non-volatile memory or in the recording medium in the disk drive.

8. A disk drive according to claim 7, characterized in that the group of control parameters determining the amount of energization of the heater is stored in the memory unit by measuring a relationship between the disk rotating speed and the head flying height or between the disk rotating speed and the recording frequency or a relationship between the recording frequency and a reduction in the head flying height attributable to heat generated by a recording current during the manufacturing test of each individual drive.

9. A disk drive according to claim 1, characterized in that the control unit controls the amount of energization of the heater based on a threshold for recording/reproduction performance of the drive.

10. A disk drive according to claim 2, wherein the control unit sets the amount of current to the heater based on at least any one of a cylinder number, the individuality of the head, and the distinction between recording and reproduction, and controls the current amount which is greater when the temperature at the time of operation of the apparatus is low than when the temperature at the time of operation of the apparatus is high.

11. A disk drive according to claim 2, wherein a group of control parameters determining the amount of current to the heater is stored in a non-volatile memory or in the recording medium in the disk drive.