Patent ID: 7969681
Filing Date: 2011-06-28
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
1. A disk drive comprising: a slider that flies above a rotating disk; a head element located at the slider; a heater that uses thermal expansion to cause the head element to protrude so that the clearance between the head element and the disk is adjusted, said heater being located at the slider; a controller for determining a slew rate of the output to the heater in response to processing conditions; a heater driving circuit for driving the heater at the determined slew rate; and a temperature sensor, wherein said controller changes the slew rate of the output to the heater on the basis of the detected temperature detected by the temperature sensor, wherein: in read processing and/or write processing, while the head element is accessing the disk, the driving circuit makes the slew rate of the output to the heater lower than that at the time of starting the access.