Patent ID: 7573670

Claim:
A disk drive comprising: a disk comprising a plurality of tracks, wherein each track comprises a plurality of embedded servo sectors; a head coupled to a distal end of an actuator arm; a voice coil motor (VCM) operable to rotate the actuator arm about a pivot to actuate the head radially over the disk; a ramp; and control circuitry operable to unload the actuator arm onto the ramp by: seeking the head to a track near an outer diameter of the disk in response to the embedded servo sectors; switching to a velocity control mode to unload the actuator arm onto the ramp at a controlled unload velocity in response to a back electromotive force voltage generated by the VCM; and ramping a velocity command so that the velocity of the actuator arm when contacting the ramp is less than half the maximum unload velocity while traveling along the ramp.