WRITE-SAFE CONDITION VERIFICATION APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR THE WRITE ELEMENT IN A DISC DRIVE

摘要

A disc drive (100) with on-the-fly verification of an enabled condition of the write element (132). A data reading and writing assembly (200) comprises a read/write head (120) comprising a write element (132) and a read element (134), both adjacent the recording surface; a preamplifier (174) comprising a write driver (176) and a read amplifier (178) for reading stored data from the recording surface; and an interconnect (202) joining the write driver (176) to the write element (132) the read amplifier (178) to the read element (134). The disc drive (100) furthermore comprises a detection circuit (210) connected to the data reading and writing assembly (200), receiving a write-safe signal (222) indicative of a write-safe condition, the write-safe signal (222) comprising a sum of constituent operable magnetic coupling values (204, 206, 208) of the read/write head (120), the preamplifier (174) and the interconnect (202). The detection circuit (210) is preferably connected to the preamplifier (174) and receives the write-safe signal (222) when a bias current is directed to the read element (134) while writing data to the recording surface, such that a reversal in the writing current generates an electromagnetic coupling effect in the bias current.