Patent ID: 8009380

Claim:
A disk drive comprising: a disk configured to store data; a slider configured to fly in proximity to a recording surface of said disk; a magnetic-recording head on said slider configured to access said disk; a moving mechanism configured to support and to move said head-slider; an adjustment portion configured to adjust clearance between said magnetic-recording head and said disk; and a controller configured to control said adjustment portion to control said clearance, wherein said controller is configured to perform clearance control in a first mode in an operation selected from the group consisting of reading user data and writing user data according to a change in fly height of said slider after a load operation, said clearance control in said first mode based on a pre-defined clearance change profile performed without measuring a clearance between said magnetic-recording head and said disk, and said controller configured to perform subsequently clearance control in a second mode in an operation selected from the group consisting of reading user data and writing user data.