A magnetic disk driving device comprising a flexible disk-shaped magnetic recording medium; a first motor for rotating the magnetic recording medium; first and second head supporting members for supporting first and second magnetic heads, respectively, the first and second head supporting members being formed with recesses from which the first and second magnetic heads project toward the magnetic recording medium; a second motor for moving the magnetic heads; and first and second arms extending along opposite surfaces of the magnetic recording medium, the first and second arms having respective free ends where the first and second head supporting members are mounted and having respective base ends where a rotating shaft of the second motor is directly fixed; wherein the first and second arms are adapted to be rocked within a predetermined rocking angle defined in such a manner that when the first magnetic head supported by the first head supporting member is located in opposition to an outermost recording track of the magnetic recording medium, the second magnetic head supported by the second head supporting member comes to a position opposed to an innermost recording track of the magnetic recording medium.
In one embodiment, the invention provides a thin data storage device comprising a housing that has a top and a bottom cover and a printed circuit board having electronic integrated circuits mounted thereon. A rotatable spindle is formed about a cylindrical shaft and is rotatable by rotation means. A magnet structure is rigidly mounted to a flange attached to the spindle. A stator is attached to the circuit board and comprises plates of soft magnetic material having coils wrapped on legs of the stator. At least one flexible recordable disk is non-removably mounted to the spindle. A top and a bottom recording head is arranged on both sides of the disk. A woven liner is attached to the top of the circuit board over the integrated circuits. A rotor is arranged on a second shaft at a point displaced from the first shaft. The rotor is rotatable by a second rotation means configured to allow the rotor to move relative to the disk. A coil of wire is attached to one side of the rotor and is displaced in a magnetic field developed between a magnet structure mounted to a first soft magnetic plate that is attached to the bottom cover and a second soft magnetic plate that is attached to the top cover. A flexible printed circuit cable is attached to the circuit board and the rotor to provide a path for electrical servo control and recording signals between the rotor coil, recording heads and the circuit board.
The invention provides a high-capacity, high-speed data storage device which is extremely compact, rugged and economical. In a preferred embodiment, the data storage device comprises a housing defining a sealed enclosure, a motor mounted within the housing having a rotatable spindle, a flexible disk non-removably mounted to the spindle, and a read-write head disposed within the housing over a first surface of the disk for reading or writing data thereon. By the use of a flexible disk of a material such as Mylar, the housing has an extremely small height, preferably less than 5.0 mm, and the device is economical and rugged. At the same time, high storage capacity and speed is attained by the use of a flying head which reads or records data without contacting the disk. In preferred embodiments, multiple disks and/or multiple heads may be employed for extremely large data storage capacities in ultra-compact devices.
A magnetic disk drive has a disk cartridge and a driving device. A disk cartridge is an apparatus which has at least a disk and a head in a sealed case, but has no current supply source to drive them and has no controller to control them. A driving device is an apparatus which has the current supply source and/or the controller. The disk cartridge can be easily connected to and disconnected from the driving device. The connection and disconnection are achieved by connectors of the disk cartridge and the driving device. The connector of the disk cartridge and/or the driving device has a movable cover thereon, and because of the cover, the connector is uncovered when the disk cartridge is connected to the driving device, and is covered when the disk cartridge is disconnected from the driving device.
A digital camera includes a digital memory system having a control unit for checking for proper format initialization of a removable digital memory element and for performing format initialization of the memory element when necessary.
