Simulation of a head slider considering a discrete track recording technology

Discrete track recording (DTR) is a new application technology that utilizes a separate physical storage disk with grooves and ridges comprised of radial and circumferential direction in order to achieve higher data transfer rates and storage densities on a hard disk drive (HDD). However, the grooves and ridges on the DTR media cause flying stability issues. Therefore, we analyze and compare the dynamic performance of a head slider with three types of DTR media in which different DTR parameters are defined, such as groove width and pitch. Prior to simulations, we propose the DTR flying height (FH) loss equation which estimates a loss of FH on the DTR media using the defined DTR parameters. The accuracy and creditability of this equation is then predicted by comparing the results of the equation to those of the simulation. Consequently, we propose a method for designing the air bearing surface (ABS) on the DTR media using the static performance of the ABS on a continuous track recording (CTR) along with the proposed DTR FH loss equation.