Patent ID: 6934135

Claim:
A disk drive comprising: (a) a disk; (b) a head; (c) a voice coil motor (VCM) for actuating the head over the disk, the VCM comprising a voice coil having a first end and a second end; (d) an interface for receiving a supply voltage from a host computer; (e) a VCM driver for connecting the voice coil to the supply voltage in order to actuate the head over the disk; (f) a spindle motor for rotating the disk, the spindle motor comprising a plurality of windings, wherein each winding comprises a first end and a second end; (g) a spindle driver for selectively connecting the windings to the supply voltage according to a commutation sequence in order to rotate the spindle motor; (h) a first current sensor for generating a current sense signal representing a current flowing from the supply voltage; and (i) a current limit circuit for comparing the current sense signal to a first threshold, wherein if the current sense signal exceeds the first threshold: the windings are disconnected from the supply voltage; and the voice coil is disconnected from the supply voltage and the first and second ends of the voice coil are connected to ground.