A METHOD OF DETERMINING THE VARIATION OF THE CLEARANCE BETWEEN A MAGNETIC TRANSDUCER AND A RECORDING MEDIA DURING TRACK SEEKING

摘要

"A method of determining the variation of the clearance between amagnetic transducer and a recording media during track seeking"A method of determining a clearance between a magnetic transducer and amagnetic recording medium during a track seeking operation, the magneticrecording medium being moveable with respect to the transducer and includingat least a test track and a reference track, which method comprises the steps of:at least partially erasing a predetermined area of the recording mediumincluding at least one test track and one reference track; writing a first series ofpredetermined magnetic transitions along a spiral trace, formed by seekingoperation of the read/write head, of the transitions across the predetermined testtracks in the predetermined area; reading the test track and obtaining, from thesignals readback from the test track, the pulse width of the readback signal at apredetermined amplitude level; writing a futher series of predeterminedmagnetic transitions identical to the first series on a reference track of therecording medium in the predetermined area; reading the reference track andobtaining, from the signals readback from the reference track, the pulse widthof the readback signal at the predetermined amplitude level; and calculating thedifference between the test track pulse width and the reference track pulsewidth, said difference being indicative of the clearance between the magnetictransducer and the magnetic recording medium during track seeking.[FIGURE 4]