Patent ID: 6961207

Claim:
A disk drive, comprising: a plurality of disks, a first of said disks including a first disk surface and a second of said disks including a second disk surface; a disk base; an actuator providing a read-write head assembly communicatively coupled to said first disk surface and a second read-write head assembly communicatively coupled to said second disk surface, said actuator pivotably coupled to said disk base; a spindle motor rigidly coupled to said disk base, said spindle motor provided to rotate said disks about an axis of rotation at an operating rotational velocity; a dampening mechanism including a plate fixedly attached to said disk base and further including a first dampening surface separated from said first disk surface by essentially a first gap for at least 175 degrees with respect to said axis of rotation of said disks and for at least 16 millimeters of radial width with respect to said axis of rotation of said disks; said dampening mechanism further including, a second dampening surface separated from said second disk surface by essentially a second gap for at least 175 degrees with respect to said axis of rotation of said disks and for at least 16 millimeters of radial width with respect to said axis of rotation of said disks, wherein each member of a gap collection comprising said first gap and said second gap is at most a fixed distance; wherein said fixed distance is at most one millimeter; said dampening mechanism reducing aerodynamic forces acting upon said first disk surface and said second disk surface to stabilize said disk surfaces as said first and said second disk surfaces rotate at said disk operating rotational velocity; and said dampening mechanism reducing aerodynamic forces acting upon said actuator as said first and said second disk surfaces rotate at said disk operating rotational velocity; and a disk cover attached to said disk base forming an enclosure containing said spindle motor, said plurality of disks, said actuator, and said dampening mechanism.