A magnetic disk device includes a magnetic disk and a control circuit. The magnetic disk includes a first area where writing is performed in a manner such that a newly written track partially overlaps a previously written adjacent track. The control circuit is configured to specify a range of a second track, which is to be overlapped as a result of writing first data to a first track, write second data written in the specified range of the second track to a saving area prior to writing the first data to the first track, write the first data to the first track, and verify the second data in the second track after writing the first data to the first track.

A computer program product, according to one embodiment, includes a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith. The computer readable storage medium is not a transitory signal per se. Moreover, the program instructions are executable by a controller to cause the controller to: detect, by the controller, a change in a resistance value of at least one of a plurality of detector structures, for identifying a defect on a magnetic medium. Each of the detector structures includes a pair of conductive layers separated by an insulating material. Moreover, none of the detector structures include an operable reader for reading data from a magnetic medium. Other systems, methods, and computer program products are described in additional embodiments.

An object of the preset invention is to prolong the life of an HDD by performing load/unload control without reducing usability. The present invention is an information processing apparatus including: a hard disk drive; a control unit configured to perform control so that a load state in the hard disk drive is kept for a predetermined time; and a derivation unit configured to derive the number of times of load/unload in the hard disk drive, and the information processing apparatus further includes a change unit configured to change the predetermined time during which the load state is kept based on the operation time of the information processing apparatus and the number of times of load/unload.

A method includes moving a heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) slider relative to a magnetic recording medium. The slider comprises a writer, a writer heater, and a near-field transducer (NFT). For each of a plurality of different head-to media spacings a test tone is written to a track of the medium, the test tone is read and a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) of an amplitude of the read test tone is captured. A first DFT curve is generated at a beginning of writing the test tones. A second DFT curve is generated at a saturated state of writing the test tones. An amount of horizontal shift between the first and second DFT curves is computed. The amount of horizontal shift corresponding to writer heater power required to compensate for NFT clearance offset due to laser induced writer protrusion.

A tape drive system for ensuring tape data integrity by tape surface inspection, the tape drive system being configured for reading and writing data from/to a magnetic tape, is provided. The tape drive system includes a laser inspection unit comprising a sender and a receiver integrated into the tape drive system, wherein the laser inspection unit configured for recognizing a tape defect by scanning the magnetic tape when the tape drive system is in operation. The tape drive system includes a read/write head configured for acting together with the laser inspection unit as sensors for providing sensor data during a read/write operation of the tape drive system, a communication link between the sensors and a controller unit for exchanging sensor data. The controller is configured for evaluating sensor data and for triggering predefined actions based on the respective evaluation results such that the tape data integrity is ensured.

The disclosed technology provides a method that improves CCT in SMR device systems. In one implementation, the method comprises writing data to a shingled magnetic recording (SMR) band in a storage device, determining whether an off-track write has occurred, identifying unsafe written data in response to determining that an off-track write has occurred, determining whether caching space is available upon identifying unsafe written data, continue writing data to the SMR band without a write retry upon determining that caching space is available, and writing unsafe written data to the available caching space. In another implementation, the method comprises receiving a request to repair an encroached track in an SMR band, recovering encroached data to a dynamic random-access memory, determining whether caching space is available, writing the recovered data to the available caching space upon determining that caching space is available, and merging other cached data in the SMR band.

A method includes detecting different data patterns in data read from a portion of a non-transitory data storage medium. Bit errors in the different data patterns are then determined. Further, bits in error for a total number of bits in each of the different data patterns are calculated from the determined bit errors in the different data patterns.

According to one embodiment, a magnetic disk device includes a disk that includes a plurality of tracks, each track including a plurality of sectors for storing data, a head that is for writing data to the plurality of sectors and reading data from the plurality of sectors, and a controller. The controller is configured to determine that a first sector of the plurality of sectors is not able to be read and is a defective sector, determine that a second sector of the plurality of sectors is disposed along a line that extends through the first sector and a defective sector included in a first list of defective sectors, register the second sector in the first list of defective sectors, and reallocate an address corresponding to the second sector to a first alternative sector included on the disk.

According to an embodiment, a track includes first sectors and a second sector. When write of a second data segment to a third sector that is one of the first sectors is requested from a host, a controller acquires the second data segment from the host and stores the second data segment in the memory, and reads a data set including all first data segments and all first information pieces from the track and stores the data set in the memory. The controller acquires a second information piece of the third sector, and updates a first data segment and a first information piece read from the third sector in the data set in the memory with the second data segment and the second information piece. The controller calculates a second parity while the updated data set to the track, and writes the second parity to the second sector.

According to one embodiment, a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus includes irreversible adsorbing materials in a sealed housing for the magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus.