Patent ID: 8456980

Claim:
A disk drive comprising: a disk comprising a plurality of data tracks defined by servo sectors, wherein each data track comprises a plurality of data sectors; a head actuated over the disk, wherein the head comprises a laser operable to heat the disk while writing data to the disk and a fly height actuator operable to adjust a fly height of the head over the disk; and control circuitry operable to: receive a write command to write data to a target data sector of a target data track; position the head over the target data track; and when the head approaches the target data sector: during a pre-heat interval, control the fly height of the actuator to adjust the fly height of the head to a target pre-heat fly height; after the pre-heat interval and during a pre-laser interval, control the fly height actuator to increase the fly height of the head; after the pre-laser interval, increase a power applied to the laser to heat the disk, wherein the pre-laser interval compensates for a protrusion transient of the head toward the disk due to increasing the power applied to the laser; and after increasing the power applied to the laser, write the data to the disk.