Patent ID: 7853965

Claim:
A disk drive to be loaded with a disk cartridge that houses a disk therein, the drive comprising: a cartridge holder for holding the disk cartridge, the holder having a holder opening, through which the disk cartridge is inserted from outside of the drive into the cartridge holder and ejected out of the cartridge holder; a pair of guide walls, which is arranged in the vicinity of the holder opening of the cartridge holder to define a direction in which the disk cartridge is supposed to be inserted; a disk motor for rotating the disk that has been mounted thereon; a head for reading and/or writing information from/on the disk; a base for supporting the head and the disk motor thereon; first and second guide grooves, which have been cut through the cartridge holder; and first and second guide members, which are movable along the first and second guide grooves, respectively, and which engage with respective portions of the disk cartridge, wherein the first and second guide members move along the first and second guide grooves, respectively, and engage with the disk cartridge so as to leave a gap that is narrower than a gap between the guide walls when the disk cartridge is inserted but to leave a gap that is broader than the gap between the guide walls when the drive gets loaded with the disk cartridge, thereby opening a window in the disk cartridge so as to allow the head to access the disk and also allow the disk motor to mount the disk.