Effect of slider rest time and slider motion on particle generation in a magnetic hard disk drive operation

It is well known that particles generated in a hard disk drive (HDD) can ca use physical and electrical damages. With increasing areal density of disks and decreasing head-disk spacing, the situation becomes more serious, but the reason why and how particles are generated in the disk has yet to be cl early verified. The objective of this study was to experimentally investiga te the effect of slider rest time, position, and motion on particle generat ion. It was found that a large number of particles were generated when the HDD was turned on after a long rest time of the slider. It was expected tha t the number of particles generated in the HDD would be related to the slid er rest time because the slider rest time typically increased with the stic tion force. It was also found that a few particles were continuously genera ted even as the slider flew over the disk surface. This might be caused by the intermittent contact between the slider and the disk surface.