Patent ID: 7142385

Claim:
A magnetic disk drive protection mechanism, comprising: a stable position data storage for storing stable-state information representing a magnetic disk drive in an operating environment that satisfies a certain condition; an acceleration sensor for sensing changes in acceleration acting on the magnetic disk drive; a rest-state measuring unit for determining whether the magnetic disk drive is in a state of rest based on information acquired by the acceleration sensor; an operating state determination unit for, in response to a first determination by the rest-state measuring unit that the magnetic disk drive is in a state of rest, determining whether the state of rest corresponds to the stable-state information stored in the stable position data storage, and for setting detection sensitivity to a sign that indicates an impending shock to the magnetic disk drive based on a result of a second determination; and a magnetic head operation controller for controlling operation of the magnetic disk drive including retraction of a magnetic head based on the detection sensitivity set by the operating state determination unit.