Patent ID: 6724552
Filing Date: 2004-04-20
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
A magnetic disk apparatus comprising:a head for reading recorded information from a disk provided with a servo field and a SYNC area, and a data area following said servo field; a gate for applying a signal read by said head to a signal processing unit; and a control unit for controlling said gate; wherein said control unit carries out control such that said gate is opened after an elapse of a set period of time (T1) as measured from a moment in time at which a reference signal (STM2) in said servo field has been detected from the signal read by said head, and wherein, if said reference signal (STM2) has not been detected after an elapse of a predetermined period of time (T) following the detection of a preceding reference signal (STM1), said predetermined time (T) corresponding to a period of time within which reference signal (STM2) should have been detected, then said gate is opened after elapse of a period of time corresponding to said predetermined period of time (T) and said set period of time (T1), as measured from a moment in time at which said preceding reference signal (STM1) was detected.