Patent ID: 8824106

Claim:
A read head comprising: a top read sensor shielded above and below by upper and lower shield/lead layers respectively; a bottom read sensor shielded above and below by upper and lower shield/lead layers respectively; a non-magnetic spacer layer separating said lower shield/lead layer of said top read sensor from said upper shield/lead layer of said lower read sensor; wherein a total of four leads are required for said upper read sensor and said lower read sensor to independently read a recorded track; said top read sensor and said bottom read sensor each include a horizontal magnetic free layer; and wherein said top read sensor and said bottom read sensor have a line of symmetry that is perpendicular to said magnetic free layer; wherein said magnetic free layers are vertically separated by a downtrack separation ΔY; and said lines of symmetry are horizontally separated by a crosstrack separation ΔX; wherein said shield/lead layers provide independent output signals from said top read sensor and said bottom read sensor.