According to one embodiment, a suspension assembly includes a support plate, a trace member on the support plate and a drive element mounted on the trace member. The trace member includes a metal plate, and a multilayered member on the metal plate. The multilayered member includes a first insulating layer, a conductive layer stacked on the first insulating layer, a second insulating layer stacked on the conductive layer. The multilayered member includes a mount portion on which the drive element is mounted, and a branching portion arranged along the mount portion with a gap therebetween. At least one portion of the branching portion is formed into a thin portion having a thickness less than other portions of the multilayered member.

According to one embodiment, a suspension assembly includes a support plate, a trace member on the support plate and a drive element mounted on the trace member. The trace member includes a metal plate, and a multilayered member on the metal plate. The multilayered member includes a first insulating layer, a conductive layer stacked on the first insulating layer, a second insulating layer stacked on the conductive layer. The multilayered member includes a mount portion on which the drive element is mounted, and a branching portion arranged along the mount portion with a gap therebetween. At least one portion of the branching portion is formed into a thin portion having a thickness less than other portions of the multilayered member.

Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to a magnetic recording head that includes a main pole, a leading shield, a first side shield disposed on a first side of the main pole, a second side shield disposed on a second side of the main pole, and a trailing shield. The trailing shield is disposed on a trailing side of the main pole. One or more approaches are disclosed to control return-fluxes. In some embodiments, at least one of the upper return pole, the leading shield, the trailing shield, the first side shield, and the second side shield includes a laminate structure having at least a pair of ferromagnetic layers, and a non-magnetic spacer layer disposed between adjacent ferromagnetic layers. In some embodiments, one or more shunts are positioned, such as connecting the leading shield to the upper return pole in order to create circuits to control magnetic flux.

A magnetic tape device. The angle θ formed by the axis of the element array of the magnetic head with respect to a width direction of the magnetic tape is changed during running of the magnetic tape in the magnetic tape device. In a case where predetermined storage is defined as one cycle, a maximum value of an absolute value of a difference between a servo band spacing obtained before performing the storage and a servo band spacing obtained after the storage of N cycles is defined as A, and N is set to 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, a medium life calculated by a linear function of A and a logarithm log.sub.e T of T, that are derived from a value of A and a value of the logarithm log.sub.e T of total storage time T of the storage of N cycles is 5 years or longer.

Disclosed herein are sliders with at least one notch-cut in the trailing pad, methods of making them, and data storage devices comprising them. In some embodiments, a slider comprises a leading-edge surface, a trailing-edge surface, and an air-bearing surface (ABS) that includes a trailing pad situated closer to the trailing-edge surface than to the leading-edge surface, wherein the trailing pad comprises at least one notch-cut (e.g., two notch-cuts) in a trailing side of the trailing pad. The at least one notch-cut provides higher pressure at the recording head situated in the trailing pad and higher thermal flight control efficiency without a commensurate increase in touch-down power. As a result, the temperature around the recording head is lower than without the at least one notch-cut, thereby improving the lifetime of the recording head and data storage device.

The disk device according to one embodiment includes magnetic disks, a magnetic head, a ramp, and a suspension. The suspension includes a sliding portion provided on a load beam. The suspension rotates about a second rotation axis between a load position and an unload position. The ramp includes a wall and a protrusion. The wall has a first support surface that supports the sliding portion when the suspension is located in the unload position. The protrusion includes a second support surface and an intermediate portion. The second support surface faces the magnetic head when the suspension is located in the unload position. The intermediate portion is located between the wall and the second support surface. The intermediate portion includes a first portion and a second portion. The second portion is located between the first portion and the first support surface in the radial direction of the second rotation axis.

To control the resonance generated in the head assembly and improve property on the head location controlling. A head assembly includes: a slider having a head element; a slider supporting plate for holding the slider; a load beam for holding the slider supporting plate; a support projection which is arranged on the front end part of the load beam and on which the slider supporting plate is supported rotatably; a drive unit that rotates the slider supporting plate around the support projection; a dynamic vibration absorber arranged on the slider supporting plate, wherein the dynamic vibration absorber is disposed closer to the rear end side of the load beam than the support projection and has vibration freedom in the rotating direction of the slide supporting plate.

A system and methods for manufacturing devices such as flexures using process coupons are described are described. The method including performing a test on at least one feature of a coupon, the coupon is included on an assembly sheet used in manufacturing flexures. The at least one feature is produced by a manufacturing processing step that is used to produce a portion of a flexure. And, the physical characteristics of the feature include at least one physical characteristic that is different than physical characteristics of the portion. The method also including determining the manufacturing processing step will produce an abnormal portion of a flexure based on the performed test. Further, the method includes adjusting the manufacturing processing step and manufacturing a portion of a flexure using the adjusted manufacturing processing step.

A heat-assisted magnetic recording head includes a near-field emitter and a middle disk. The near-field emitter includes a peg and an anchor disk. The peg is configured to produce a hot spot on a proximal magnetic disk. The peg is disposed proximal to a media-facing surface of the heat-assisted magnetic recording head. The anchor disk is disposed behind the peg relative to the media-facing surface. The middle disk has a melting temperature of at least 1500 degrees Celsius. The middle disk is disposed in a down-track direction relative to the near-field emitter and is coupled to the anchor disk.

A heat-assisted magnetic recording head includes a waveguide and a near-field transducer. The near-field transducer includes a plasmonic disk disposed proximal to the waveguide. The plasmonic disk includes a first plasmonic layer, a second plasmonic layer, and a middle layer. The first plasmonic layer is coupled to the waveguide. The second plasmonic layer is disposed distal to the waveguide relative to the first plasmonic layer. The middle layer is disposed between the first plasmonic layer and the second plasmonic layer.