Development of an external servo controller for hard disk drive

Abstract

Since the introduction of HDD in the 1950s, many areas in the HDD have improved tremendously. The servo control however did not change much due to the manufacturer's risk averse attitude in adopting new control techniques. The situation is made worse with the HDD industry's increasing demand for storage capacity. The active involvement of tertiary institution in the research for better servo control may help in alleviate the problem; however there is a lack of HDD experimental platform or system that uses an actual drive. The reason for this is because most HDD manufacturers are reluctant to reveal their confidential trade secrets or patents that may erode their competitive edge in the industry.