Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for testing magnetic disks

US5050169A · kind A · utility

20Cited by
6References
17Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateMay 23, 1989
Grant dateSep 17, 1991
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 23, 2009

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG11B20/182
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An apparatus for testing of multiple disks in a disk drive, and a method for testing utilizing the apparatus. Disks in a disk stack have associated read/write heads, and multiple read/write heads are controlled by read/write controllers. The controllers are controlled by chip select lines, and the read/write heads are selected via a head select bus. The disk stack is rotated by means of a motor or other rotation mechanism, and data is written onto tracks on surfaces of the disks by means of the read/write heads. A given head is selected by selecting its associated controller, and selecting the head code for that particular head. Multiple controllers may be selected at one time, with one head per controller engaged for the write function at a given time, such that several heads may be written at a time for speeding up the write proces in a disk testing procedure. In an alternative embodiment, several heads may be accessed per controller at one time. Test data is written onto each track on each surface of the disks by accessing all of the heads for each controller, and then the data is read out by accessing the read/write heads one at a time, and comparing the readout data with the w…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.