Microdrive mechanical design considerations

A newly introduced miniature disk drive (called a "microdrive") provides 34 0 Mbytes of data storage in a CompactFlash type 2 form factor (36.4 x 42.8 x 5 mm). Although micromechanical components were considered, the drive use s miniaturized conventional designs throughout. The drive contains a single 27.4-mm-diameter disk with a 0.38-mm glass substrate and two picoheads. We 4500-rpm spindle motor is an outer stator design used to maximize coil vol ume and minimize payload mass and inertia. We stacked-arm rotary actuator h as high resonance frequencies because of its small size and mass. A modifie d load-unload system uses an asymmetric ramp to improve volumetric efficien cy and a capacitive power-off retract system. A dual-lever inertia latch is employed with a high-density inertial body to achieve a sufficient inertia l response. The electronics card uses direct-chip-attach modules on a 10-cm (2) circuit board.