Short-moment-arm head assembly and gimbal for floppy disk drives

A microfloppy disk drive embodiment of the present invention comprises a low-profile magnetic head slider (36) mounted directly to a Whitney-type flexure (34). A suspension arm (32) with a Z-bend (44) in its distal end is configured to clear a cartridge shutter, and such further allows an attachment at the front end of the flexure (32) to the metal suspension (34). The load force is applied to a dimple (54) on the center of a flexure finger. In contrast to the prior art, the load point position and the Whitney-like flexure plane inside the shutter opening are substantially nearer to the disk media than they are to the top surface of the shutter.