Patent ID: 8074016

Claim:
A data storage device comprising: a rotatable media platter operable to receive and store data; a read/write head operable to communicate with the media platter by writing the data to the media platter and by reading the data from the media platter; an arm supporting the read/write head; a servo motor coupled the arm and operable to move the arm to and from the media platter; a drive controller operable to control the media platter, the read/write head and the servo motor; and a general purpose input/output (GPIO) coupled with a fall sensor that is external to the data storage device so that when the fall sensor sends a floating interrupt trigger, signaling that the fall sensor is falling, the GPIO receives the interrupt trigger and the drive controller performs an emergency routine to cache data in flight to or from the data storage device and park the read/write head away from the media platter.