Patent ID: 7038883

Claim:
A magnetic head slider for supporting a magnetic head above a rotating disk, comprising: a slider body; two leading pads formed on an air inflow side of the slider body with a stepped surface provided in each of the leading pads, each of the leading pads having an air bearing surface coming into contact with a medium surface of the disk when the disk is at rest; a trailing pad formed on an air outflow side of the slider body with a stepped surface provided in the trailing pad, the trailing pad having an air bearing surface coming into contact with the medium surface of the disk when the disk is at rest; a pair of side rails formed along both lateral sides of the slider body; and said leading pads having a depth δs 1 from the air bearing surfaces thereof to the stepped surfaces formed on the air inflow side of the leading pads, said trailing pad having a depth δs 2 from the air bearing surface thereof to the stepped surface formed on the air inflow side of the trailing pad and said side rails having a step depth δs 3 from the air bearing surfaces of the leading and trailing pads to surfaces of the side rails, said depths δs 1 , δs 2 and δs 3 being in a predetermined relation, where at least one of δs 3 >δs 1 and δs 3 >δs 2 .