JP4432269B2 - Recording operation evaluation device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a recording operation evaluation for evaluating a recording operation of a recording medium and a head used in the recording apparatus by an apparatus configured to perform the same operation as a recording apparatus that records and reproduces information by magnetic or optical means. Relates to the device.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Recording devices such as HDDs (Hard Disk Drives) are widely used as typical external recording devices for computers. The recording apparatus records and reproduces information magnetically on the recording medium by floating with a small gap by a rotating disk-shaped magnetic recording medium and an air flow generated by the rotation of the recording medium. And a magnetic head.
[0003]
This type of conventional recording apparatus employs a system in which the head is brought into contact with the surface of the recording medium when starting up and the recording medium is floated by rotating the head while the head is in contact with the surface of the recording medium when stopped. . This method is called a CSS (Contact Start Stop) method, but has the following problems in terms of improving the reliability of the recording medium and increasing the recording density.
[0004]
That is, since the CSS method involves contact sliding of the head, there is a problem that reliability due to wear of the recording medium or generation of particles is lowered. In addition, since the surface of the recording medium has minute irregularities called texture to reduce the adsorption and friction between the head and the recording medium at startup, the flying height of the head can be set below the height of this texture. In other words, the head flying height becomes a barrier when the recording density is increased.
[0005]
On the other hand, the head load / unload method, that is, when the head is stopped, the head is retracted (unloaded) from the medium surface, and is activated so that the recording medium is in a rotating state capable of flying the head. In the system in which the head is introduced (loaded) onto the medium surface at the time, since the recording medium and the head do not come into contact with each other unlike the CSS system, the reliability of the recording medium is increased, and the texture is added to the recording medium. Since it is not necessary to provide the head, the flying height of the head can be reduced, so that the recording density can be increased.
[0006]
FIG. 3 shows a conventional example of a general head loading / unloading mechanism 1 in the HDD.
[0007]
The head 2 in this conventional load / unload mechanism is provided with a tab 21 held on the ramp 4 serving as an introduction path at the tip, and when the head 2 is introduced (loaded) onto the recording medium 3, The tab 21 is moved along the inclined upper surface of the lamp 4 to guide the head 2 onto the recording medium 3. Similarly, when the vehicle is retracted (unloaded), the tab 21 is moved along the upper surface of the lamp 4 to the retracted position. In this loading / unloading method, when loading on the surface of the recording medium 3 in a state where the head 2 is lifted up by the lamp 4 so as not to contact the recording medium 3, it is between the minute gap surface between the head and the medium surface. The design is such that the inertia of the head 2 is received by using the pressure generated by the air current called squeeze pressure, and the head 2 is loaded on the upper surface thereof without contacting the recording medium 3. However, due to the influence of the head attitude angle at the time of loading, the vibration of the recording medium, external vibration, and the like, a sufficient squeeze pressure cannot be obtained and a contact state may occur, and an impact may be generated between the medium and the head. Similarly, at the time of unloading, that is, when the head 2 is pulled away from the upper surface of the recording medium 3, a suction force is temporarily generated between the recording medium 3 and the head 2, whereby the suspension supporting the head is moved to the medium side. So that when the head 2 moves away from the surface of the recording medium, a phenomenon called “slapping” occurs in which the head is struck against the surface of the medium. Shock may occur during the period.
[0008]
From the above, it is necessary to ensure the reliability of the recording medium and the head against the impact generated during the load operation and unload operation in the head load / unload type recording apparatus. It will be important. For the reliability evaluation of the recording medium and the head, a recording operation evaluation apparatus called a spin stand capable of performing the same operation as that of a head load / unload type HDD is used, and the evaluation is performed by repeated loading and unloading operations.
[0009]
FIG. 4 shows an operation at the time of loading in the conventional recording operation evaluation apparatus. The head 2 is driven by a drive device (not shown) including a voice coil motor and the like, and is guided along the lamp 4 by the tab 21 from the position indicated by the dotted line and loaded onto the recording medium 3 at the position indicated by the solid line. The damage on the recording medium 3 due to the loading operation occurs in the zone 31 near the tip of the lamp 4.
[0010]
FIG. 5 shows the operation at the time of unloading. Since the head 2 is unloaded at the same position near the tip of the lamp as that at the time of loading, the damage zone 32 generated in the recording medium 3 at the time of unloading is also the same as that at the time of loading. It coincides with the damage zone 31. For this reason, both the load operation and the unload operation are mixed on the recording medium to be tested, and it is difficult to identify the cause of the damage in the evaluation after the test.
[0011]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
It is an object of the present invention to avoid a mixture of damage during load operation and damage during unload operation on a recording medium to be tested when testing a recording medium used in an L / UL recording apparatus. It is to enable identification of the cause of damage in later evaluation.
[0012]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a head for recording / reproducing information by magnetic, optical or other means, and a disk-shaped recording medium having an information recording layer on a substrate. When the head is stopped, the head is retracted to a position where it is not in contact with the recording medium, and when the recording medium is driven to rotate, the head is introduced along the introduction path onto the recording medium, A recording medium and a recording / reproducing mechanism used in the recording apparatus and a recording / reproducing mechanism used in the recording apparatus, the recording / reproducing mechanism being the same as the recording apparatus of the head load / unload system configured to retract the head along the introduction path when stopping. in the recording operation evaluation apparatus for evaluating for the operation, at the time of introducing the head, and radial position on the recording medium of the head, to the head retracting Kino, wherein the the radial position on the recording medium is different from the head, characterized in that a driving device for driving the introduction path.
[0013]
In this case, a drive device is provided for moving the introduction path for loading and unloading the head in the radial direction of the recording medium, so that the position of the introduction path is changed between loading and unloading. It is good to do.
[0014]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
1 and 2 show the operating state of an embodiment of a recording operation evaluation apparatus according to the present invention.
[0015]
In this embodiment, the same elements as those of the conventional apparatus are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted. The apparatus of the embodiment differs from the conventional apparatus in that a drive mechanism 5 comprising an electromagnetic actuator or the like for moving the position of the lamp 4 as an introduction path in the radial direction of the recording medium 3 is attached. Is a point.
The drive mechanism 5 is a mechanism that drives the lamp 4 to move in the radial direction of the recording medium 3. During the standby and loading operation, the driving mechanism 5 pulls the lamp 4 and places it in a position over the zone 31 near the outer periphery of the recording medium 3 as shown in FIG. 1, and during unloading, as shown in FIG. The apparatus 4 pushes the lamp 4 toward the center of the recording medium 3 to move it to a position on the zone 32 inside the zone 31.
[0016]
In the standby state, the lamp 4 is set on the outer peripheral side of the recording medium 3 as in the conventional recording operation evaluation apparatus, and the tab 21 at the tip of the head 2 is shown in FIG. Is held on top. When the head 2 is loaded, the tab 4 is moved along the upper surface of the lamp 4 by driving the head 2 toward the recording medium 3 by a head driving device (not shown) while the lamp 4 is left as it is. The lamp 4 is loaded on the outer peripheral side zone 31 of the recording medium 3 at the tip end portion thereof. For this reason, the contact between the head 2 and the recording medium 3 due to the loading operation occurs in the zone 31 of the recording medium 3, and the zone 31 is damaged.
[0017]
On the other hand, when the head 2 on the upper surface of the recording medium 3 is unloaded, as shown in FIG. 2, the driving mechanism 5 pushes the lamp 4 toward the center of the recording medium 3 so that the tip is separated from the zone 31 and the zone 32. Move to the position where In this state, the head 2 is driven to the outer peripheral side of the recording medium by a head driving device (not shown), and the tab 21 at the tip of the head 2 rides on the ramp 4 to retract the head 2 from the recording medium 3. Therefore, the unloading position of the head 2 is the position of the zone 32 on the inner peripheral side with respect to the loading position. At this time, the recording medium 3 is damaged in contact with the head 2 within the zone 32.
[0018]
Thus, if the position of the lamp 4 is changed when the head 2 is loaded and unloaded, the damaged zone 31 during the loading operation and the damaged zone 32 during the unloading operation can be completely separated. In other words, since damage during the load operation and damage during the unload operation can be independently evaluated, it is possible to identify the cause of damage that could not be done in the past, and recording used in an L / UL recording apparatus. The level of medium reliability evaluation can be further improved as compared with the conventional one.
[0019]
In this embodiment, an example in which the load position of the head is on the outer peripheral side from the unload position is shown. However, the gist of the present invention is to make the positions different from each other, and the same effect can be obtained even if the positional relationship is reversed. It is done.
[0020]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, in a recording operation evaluation apparatus for a recording medium for a head load / unload recording apparatus , the head is loaded (introduced) onto the recording medium by providing the drive device for driving the head introduction path. since the radial position and the recording medium on to a radial position when unloading (retracting) to shift instead to each other at the time of, at the time of the head unload the damage location on the recording medium when loading the head Since the damage position in the recording medium can be separated, there is an advantage that the level of analysis and evaluation of damage on the recording medium can be improved as compared with the conventional technique.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a head loading operation according to an embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a head unloading operation according to an embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a main part of a conventional head load / unload type HDD.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a loading operation in a conventional recording operation evaluation apparatus.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a loading operation in a conventional recording operation evaluation apparatus.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Head load / unload mechanism in HDD 2 Head 21 Tab 3 Recording medium 31 Damage zone due to load operation 32 Damage zone due to unload operation 4 Ramp (introduction path)
5 Drive mechanism

Claims (2)

A head for recording / reproducing information by magnetic, optical or other means, and a disk-shaped recording medium having an information recording layer on a substrate, and when the recording medium is stopped, the head is the recording medium When the recording medium is activated and rotated, the head is introduced onto the recording medium along the introduction path, and when the recording medium is stopped, the head is moved to the introduction path. In a recording operation evaluation apparatus for performing recording and reproducing operations similar to those of a recording apparatus of a head load / unload system configured to be retracted along the recording medium, and evaluating the recording operation of the recording medium and the head used in the recording apparatus , when introducing the head, and radial position on the recording medium of the head, at which to the head retracted, on the recording medium of said head In the radial position is different, the recording operation evaluation apparatus characterized in that a driving device for driving the introduction path.   2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an introduction path for introducing and evacuating the head is provided on the outer periphery of the recording medium, and a driving device for moving the introduction path in the radial direction of the recording medium is coupled to the driving path. An apparatus for evaluating a recording operation, wherein the position of the introduction path is changed to a different position between when the head is introduced and when the head is retracted.

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