Disk drive with multiple actuators on a single axis having different inertia characteristics
First Claim
1. A data recording disk file comprising:
- a plurality of disks, each disk having a data surface on each of two opposite sides thereof, each said data surface having generally concentric data tracks and servo information recorded thereon;
at least two actuators mounted on a common pivot axis, each actuator having at least one head arm assembly with a magnetic head mounted at one end thereof for reading said data tracks and/or writing on said data tracks of a corresponding data surface, one of said actuators having a lesser number of said head arm assemblies than the other, whereby said one actuator has lower inertia characteristics than the other of said actuators; and
a servo system for separately driving each of said actuators for seek repositioning said magnetic head thereof from one data track to a target data track of said corresponding data surface.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is a data recording disk file having multiple actuators mounted on a common pivot axis, one of the actuators having fewer arms and lower inertia characteristics than the other. A servo system separately drives each of the actuators for seek repositioning, the lower inertia actuator having a higher performance than the other. A controller selectively records one type of data on the data surfaces associated with the lower inertia actuator, and records all other data on the other data surfaces, thereby providing a disk drive with increased performance appropriate to the data stored on the surfaces associated with the lower inertia actuator. A removable locking pin may be provided which extends through corresponding holes in each of the actuators for maintaining the actuators precisely positioned with respect to each other so that servo information may be written on each of the surfaces in a single process. Additionally, one of the actuators may be provided with a shorter stroke than the other actuators. Further, the tracks of the data surfaces associated with one of the actuators may have a different track pitch than the other data surfaces.
65 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A data recording disk file comprising:
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a plurality of disks, each disk having a data surface on each of two opposite sides thereof, each said data surface having generally concentric data tracks and servo information recorded thereon; at least two actuators mounted on a common pivot axis, each actuator having at least one head arm assembly with a magnetic head mounted at one end thereof for reading said data tracks and/or writing on said data tracks of a corresponding data surface, one of said actuators having a lesser number of said head arm assemblies than the other, whereby said one actuator has lower inertia characteristics than the other of said actuators; and a servo system for separately driving each of said actuators for seek repositioning said magnetic head thereof from one data track to a target data track of said corresponding data surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An actuator subassembly for a data recording disk file, said disk file having a plurality of rotatable disks, each disk having a data surface on each of two opposite sides thereof, each said data surface having generally concentric data tracks and servo information recorded thereon, said subassembly comprising:
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at least two actuators mounted on a common pivot axis, each actuator having at least one head arm assembly with a magnetic head mounted at one end thereof for reading said data tracks and/or writing on said data tracks of a corresponding data surface, one of said actuators having a lesser number of said head arm assemblies than the other, whereby said one actuator has lower inertia characteristics than the other of said actuators; and each of said actuators is separately movable for seek repositioning said magnetic head thereof from one data track to a target data track of said corresponding data surface, whereby said one of said actuators having said lesser number of said head arm assemblies is capable of providing higher performance seek repositioning than the other of said actuators. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A data recording disk file comprising:
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a plurality of rotatable disks, each disk having a data surface on each of two opposite sides thereof, each said data surface having generally concentric data tracks and servo information recorded thereon; at least two actuators mounted on a common pivot axis, each actuator having at least one head arm assembly with a magnetic head mounted at one end thereof for reading said data tracks and/or writing on said data tracks of a corresponding data surface, one of said actuators having a lesser number of said head arm assemblies than the other, whereby said one actuator has lower inertia characteristics than the other of said actuators; and a servo system for separately driving each of said actuators for seek repositioning said magnetic head thereof from one data track to a target data track of said corresponding data surface, said servo system providing higher performance seek repositioning for said one of said actuators having said lesser number of said head arm assemblies than for the other of said actuators. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification