The card reader includes a peak detector that detects a peak point of a reproduced signal according to a threshold. The peak detector applies, to a first peak value to be determined, a second peak value immediately before the first peak value, a third peak value, which is the second preceding peak value with respect to the first peak value, and a next peak value. When a difference between a first intermediate value, which is a value between the third peak value and the second peak value, and a second intermediate value, which is a value between the second peak value and the first peak value, is greater than or equal to a first difference value, the peak detector ignores a first threshold, and decides the first peak value after confirming that a digital value corresponding to the next peak value has exceeded a second threshold.

Systems and methods are disclosed for timing servo operations within a channel based on a counter for a disc locked clock. In certain embodiments, an apparatus may comprise a servo channel configured to lock a frequency of a servo channel clock to a rotational velocity of a disc data storage medium, and maintain a counter of clock cycles for the servo channel clock. The servo channel may perform operations to read servo data from a servo sector on the disc data storage medium at a first counter value selected relative to a target counter value corresponding to an expected location of a servo timing mark (STM).

The card reader includes a peak detector that detects a peak point of a reproduced signal according to a threshold. The peak detector applies, to a first peak value to be determined, a second peak value immediately before the first peak value, a third peak value, which is the second preceding peak value with respect to the first peak value, and a next peak value. When a difference between a first intermediate value, which is a value between the third peak value and the second peak value, and a second intermediate value, which is a value between the second peak value and the first peak value, is greater than or equal to a first difference value, the peak detector ignores a first threshold, and decides the first peak value after confirming that a digital value corresponding to the next peak value has exceeded a second threshold.

According to one embodiment, a hard disk drive includes a disk including a plurality of data areas, and a plurality of servo areas between the plurality of data areas, an arm holding a write head and a read arm, and a positioning module which positions the read head or the write head by rotating the arm, wherein the positioning module positioning the write head by positioning the read head, and adjusting a position of the read head or the write head, based on an output of the read head located in a data area between two servo areas adjacent in a peripheral direction, of the plurality of servo areas.

First and second read channel logic circuits are configured to process first and second signals communicated from respective first and second readers that simultaneously read from a magnetic disk. A first servo detection circuit generates a primary servo gate based on timing data from the first reader. The primary servo gate is used for processing the first signal via the first read channel logic. A second servo detection circuit that generates a secondary servo gate based on the primary servo gate and an adjustment value. The secondary servo gate is used for processing the second signal via the second read channel logic.

Various embodiments provide the position error signal (PES) that is generated by the data read channel that uses internal signals such as analog-to-digital signals, recovered data bits and signals or other internal signals to determine read head off-track metrics. Several different metrics can be utilized including a normalized norm metric, a normalized cross correlation metric, and a cross correlation with detected data metric. These metrics can be utilized to determine off-track shift of one or more read heads such that the read head position can be corrected.

Various embodiments provide the position error signal (PES) that is generated by the data read channel that uses internal signals such as analog-to-digital signals, recovered data bits and signals or other internal signals to determine read head off-track metrics. Several different metrics can be utilized including a normalized norm metric, a normalized cross correlation metric, and a cross correlation with detected data metric. These metrics can be utilized to determine off-track shift of one or more read heads such that the read head position can be corrected.

According to one embodiment, a hard disk drive includes a disk including a plurality of data areas, and a plurality of servo areas between the plurality of data areas, an arm holding a write head and a read arm, and a positioning module which positions the read head or the write head by rotating the arm, wherein the positioning module positioning the write head by positioning the read head, and adjusting a position of the read head or the write head, based on an output of the read head located in a data area between two servo areas adjacent in a peripheral direction, of the plurality of servo areas.

Example systems, data storage devices, and methods for using a harmonic sensor in the read channel of a data storage device to determine phase error are described. The data storage device includes a storage medium with data tracks and a head that can be positioned for reading and writing those tracks. A tone pattern may be written to a data track and a read signal from the tone pattern may subsequently be processed through the harmonic sensor to acquire amplitude data corresponding differences between a target frequency of the tone pattern and a read frequency from the read signal. The amplitude data may be processed to determine phase error values that correspond to an operating condition during writing, such as mode hops and/or down track thermal gradients related to operation of a laser during heat assisted magnetic recording.