A disk apparatus includes a base including a bottom wall and a sidewall disposed along a peripheral portion of the bottom wall, a cover including a ceiling plate and a side plate disposed along a periphery of the ceiling plate, the ceiling plate being fixed to the sidewall and the side plate facing an outer surface of the sidewall, and a rotatable recording medium disposed between the cover and the bottom wall. The sidewall of the base includes a first portion adjacent to the recording medium and a protruding portion that protrudes from the first portion outward and away from the recording medium, and at least a portion of a sidewall of the protruding portion faces an opening formed in the side plate.

A wiring structure of a head suspension including a flexure that supports a head and is attached to a load beam applying load onto the head, includes write wiring and read wiring formed on the flexure and connected to the head, each having wires of opposite polarities and further including a stacked interleaved part which includes segments electrically connected to the respective wires of the write wiring, the segments stacked on and facing the wires through an electrical insulating layer so that the facing wire and segment have opposite polarities, is manufactured by a wiring step, an insulating layer forming step and a stacked interleaved part forming step.

In a suspension board, a first insulating layer is formed on a support substrate. A ground layer and a power wiring trace are formed on the first insulating layer. The ground layer has electric conductivity higher than that of the support substrate. A second insulating layer is formed on the first insulating layer to cover the ground layer and the power wiring trace. A write wiring trace is formed on the second insulating layer to overlap with the ground layer. In a stacking direction of the support substrate, the first insulating layer and the second insulating layer, a distance between the ground layer and the write wiring trace is larger than a distance between the power wiring trace and the write wiring trace.

A disk apparatus includes a disk, a head, a circuit board, and an abnormality detection circuit. The head includes a plurality of loads, including at least a first load and a second load, associated with writing or reading of data to or from the disk, and a plurality of head terminals corresponding to and connected to the plurality of loads, respectively. The circuit board includes board terminals corresponding to and connected to the plurality of head terminals, respectively, and a preamplifier that applies a voltage to the loads via the plurality of board terminals during writing or reading of the data to or from the disk. The abnormality detection circuit detects a short-circuit between a first board terminal, which is the board terminal connected to the head terminal of the first load, and a second board terminal, which is the board terminal connected to the head terminal of the second load.

A dielectric layer configured to overlay a spring metal layer in a suspension assembly is described. The dielectric layer includes a tongue portion including a proximate end and a distal end, trace portions extending from the tongue portion, and an aperture aligned with the void and defined by the tongue portion. The aperture includes an elongated opening with opposing ends partially aligning with the central opening of the void. The aperture further includes slits extending from the opposing ends of the elongated opening and at least partially aligned with slits of the void in the spring metal layer.

A method for programming a head gimbal assembly. The method includes building a plurality of transducers into a slider, and testing the plurality of transducers to select one of the plurality of transducers for field operation. The method also includes providing an interconnect assembly having a plurality of traces with at least one of the plurality of traces having a plurality of electrically coupled bond pads. One of the plurality of bond pads is bonded electrically to the selected transducer out of the plurality of transducers, and the other bond pads of the plurality of bond pads are not electrically coupled to any of the plurality of transducers.

A disk drive head suspension or flexure and method of manufacture. Embodiments include a portion such as a terminal pad or flying lead comprising a base layer, a dielectric layer on the base layer, a conductor layer, a seed layer between the dielectric layer and the conductor layer, and a noncorrosive metal layer on the seed layer side of the conductor layer. The seed layer has a strip that extends beyond the edge of the dielectric layer. The noncorrosive metal layer extends over the strip of the seed layer and into contact with the edge of the dielectric layer.

A compact printed circuit board assembly includes a printed circuit board (PCB) and a preamplifier subassembly. The preamplifier subassembly includes a preamplifier and an insulating endcap abutting one another and arranged in a plane parallel to the PCB. An electrical via formed within the first insulating endcap provides an electrical connection between a decoupling capacitor and the PCB to reduce noise detectable in current flowing between the preamplifier and a current source.

Disclosed herein are suspension assembly structures for data storage devices that include physical or virtual crossovers of the pairs of differential signal traces to improve immunity to crosstalk and other interference. In an embodiment, the suspension assembly structure comprises a first trace for carrying a first component of a current to a differential transducer on a slider, a second trace for carrying a second component of the current to the differential transducer on the slider, and third and fourth traces for providing a differential write current to a writer of the data storage device, wherein the first trace physically crosses over the second trace at a first distance from a tail of the suspension assembly structure.

A circuit member includes a metal base, an insulating layer, a conductor, and a cover layer. A termial portion of the circuit member includes a thick portion formed at a part of the insulating layer, a conductor convex portion which is a part of the conductor, and overlaps the thick portion, and a conductor extending portion. By the conductor convex portion and the conductor extending portion, a stepped side pad is formed. The stepped side gad includes a first surface along the conductor extending portion, and a second surface which rises in a thickness direction of the conductor extending portion. The stepped side pad and an element are connected by a conductive member.