Patent ID: 6917496

Claim:
A disk drive, comprising: a housing; a spindle motor mounted to die housing; a media storage disk mounted to the spindle motor for rotation, the disk having an inner diameter and an outer diameter; a spacer ring mounted to the spindle motor adjacent to the inner diameter of the disk; a groove formed in and circumscribing the spacer ring; an actuator pivotally mounted to the housing for motion relative to the disk, and having a head for reading data from and writing data to the disk; a tab extending from a distal end of the actuator and having a protrusion for engaging the groove when the actuator is in a locked position to prevent the head from loading with respect to the disk and thereby reduce damage to the head and the disk during shock events, and disengaging the groove when the actuator is in an unlocked position such that the head is permitted to load with respect to the disk; and wherein one of the spacer ring and the tab has a ferromagnetic material, and the other of the spacer ring and the tab has a magnet for engaging the ferromagnetic material.