Patent ID: 7633702
Filing Date: 2009-12-15
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for retracting a disk drive actuator arm assembly, said actuator arm assembly including a transducer head, wherein said transducer head reads data from and writes data to a disk surface, comprising: a spindle motor which generates a back electromotive force voltage, said spindle motor including spindle motor windings; a DC-to-DC converter circuit connected to said spindle motor which converts said back electromotive force voltage into an output voltage; a feedback circuit connected to said DC-to-DC converter and controlling switching thereof; a retract circuit, connected to said DC-to-DC converter and powered thereby; and a voice coil motor activated by said retract circuit and operating to retract said actuator arm assembly by moving said transducer head from a location above or below a data containing area of said disk surface to a location that is not above or below a data containing area of said disk surface, wherein the spindle motor is braked by shorting the spindle motor windings while the actuator arm assembly is being retracted and while said transducer head is at a location above or below a data containing area of said disk surface.