Lubricant depletion detection in a self-healing disk drive

A method and apparatus for detecting lubricant depletion in a disk drive is provided. Disk operation performance parameters are monitored for each of a plurality of zones on the surface of the disk, and the performance parameters are stored in a data store. Examples of performance parameters monitored for each of the zones include dwell time, head flying height changes, and data recovery procedure measurements. The stored disk operation performance parameters are then compared against predetermined threshold values. If the values of the performance parameters exceed the predetermined threshold values for any of the zones, a potential lubricant depletion or other general degradation problem is flagged for the corresponding zone. Optionally, when a potential lubricant depletion problem is flagged for a particular zone, corrective action is taken. Examples of corrective action include moving recently accessed data from the flagged zone to a zone not identified as having a lubricant depletion problem, moving older archival data to the flagged zone, and/or removing access to the flagged zone.