Particle Generation Trend with Variation of Rest Time and Seek Mode in Hard Disk Drive Operation

Abstract

Particles existing in a hard disk drive are known as a major source of TA(thermal asperity). Researchers have investigated how particles induce the TA phenomena, but have not verified yet the reason why and how particles are generated in a HDD. The objective of this study is to investigate why and how particles are generated, and in what condition, the largest number of particles is generated. The number of particles generated in a HDD was measured over the landing zone after various rest times of slider and during various motions and positions of slider. It is found that the large number of particles was generated when the HDD was turned on after a long rest time of slider and that a few of particles were continuously generated when the slider flied over the disk surface. It is thought that the number of particles generated in a HDD was related to the rest time of slider because the rest time of slider increased stiction, and that there were intermittent contacts between the slider and the disk surface when the slider flied over the disk surface.