New servo pattern for hard disk storage using pattern media

This article compares three patterns for position error signal generation in hard disk drives: the conventional amplitude pattern, the chevron phase pattern, and the frequency pattern. The three approaches were evaluated for sensitivity to fabrication variation and noise using simulations. The motivation was to determine which of the approaches would be most suitable for preformatted media. The study showed that the phase approach was least sensitive to the dominant forms of variation in preformatting. However, the performance of the frequency pattern was only slightly worse than that of the phase, while the performance of the amplitude pattern was significantly worse. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.