A demodulator circuit receives an input signal read from a track of a magnetic medium and generates a control signal to maintain alignment of a read-write head with the track. The demodulator circuit includes at least one transistor. The at least one transistor has an electrode switchable between first and second voltage sources. The electrode is coupled to the second voltage source to block processing of the input signal. The electrode is coupled to the first voltage source to process the input signal. The at least one transistor provides an effective resistance when coupled to the first voltage source that is dependent on the voltage level of the first voltage source. The at least one transistor half-wave rectifies the input signal when the electrode is coupled to the first voltage source. In this manner, the at least one transistor provides an effective resistance when the electrode is coupled to the first voltage source, the magnitude of the effective resistance being determined by the voltage level of the first voltage source, half-wave rectifies the input signal, and simultaneously selects that portion of the input signal to rectify. Disk drive systems that utilize this technique have the advantage of at least one transistor simultaneously selecting the number of pulses to be integrated when turned on and blocking integration of the input signal when turned off, controlling the gain of an integrator by varying the resistance when turned on, and half-wave rectifying the incoming signal to vary the automatic gain control.
A method and apparatus for generating servo information used in positioning the read head of a hard disk drive. The apparatus comprises a disk having a plurality of tracks, at least one of which has a servo field which includes four servo bits: an A bit, a B bit, a C bit and a D bit, where the A bit and the B bit have a common boundary located at the track centerline and where the C bit and the D bit have a common boundary. A servo signal based on the four servo bits is generated and used to position the head relative to a track of the disk. A servo signal may be generated from the sum of the difference between the A and B bits, and the difference between the C and D bits. An offset may be used to eliminate phase errors introduced into the servo signal. The offset may be representative of the magnitude of the difference between the C and D bits. The servo signal may also be generated from the difference of the difference between the A and B bits, and the difference between the C and D bits.
A method and apparatus for performing track follow and seeking at quarter track positions that uses a non-conventional ordering of the servo fields at the quarter track positions, wherein C-A or D-B is used to track follow at-1/4 track positions and A--D or B--C is used to track follow at +1/4 track positions, for even and odd tracks, respectively. A position error signal is derived from relative amplitudes of the servo bursts and the read/write head is positioned over the quarter track position in accordance with the position error signal. The servo bursts are read in a time-displaced manner and the position error signal is determined from the relative amplitudes of the servo bursts. A servo controller is provided that includes a digital control/timing circuit that controls timing of events within the servo controller and generates an offset signal, a servo demodulator that receives a read back signal from the read/write head and determines a difference signal, a summing node that receives the difference signal and the offset signal, and a programmable gain stage that generates a position error signal based on an output of the summing node.
A synchronization system includes a signal generating module that generates a signal comprising modulated waveforms and a timing window generator that generates a timing window. A proportional integral controller (a) divides the timing window into a first half window and a second half window, (b) demodulates the digital signal in the first half window and the second half window, (c) compares an amplitude of demodulated signal in the first half window to an amplitude of demodulated signal in the second half window, (d) calculates a new location for the timing window, and (e) repeats (b), (c), and (d) until the amplitude in the first half window equals the amplitude in the second half window.
An apparatus, method and computer program product for a hard disk drive defect detection system. In one embodiment, a method of detecting defects on the surface of a disk having a plurality of tracks is recited. The method comprises reading, one or more times, the servo bits for a plurality of sectors and determining a burst measure for at least one sector, where the burst measure is a function of the burst signals for the sector. This method further comprises determining a reference value, where the reference value is a function of the burst signals of the plurality of sectors, and comparing the burst measure of at least one sector to the reference value to identify a potential defect. In one embodiment, a sector is mapped as defective where its burst measure differs from the reference value by at least 5 percent.
The present disclosure relates to a system for detecting a plurality of defect types on the surface of a disk in a hard disk drive. In particular, the disclosure relates to utilizing information obtained from a plurality of servo bits to determine if a sector contains a physical defect. Where such a defect is found, the sector's write gate is disabled and its burst signal data is ignored for track following purposes. In addition, large changes in PES are used to identify closure spike defects. Such defects are managed by providing a compensation signal to the read value of the PES to improve track following. Finally, high PES values are used to signal a third defect type where no other signs of defect are present. In such case, the sector is mapped as defective, but the burst signals continue to be used for track following purposes.
