Control of bit error caused by slider vibration during continuous contact recording

Bit Error Rates (BER) and the slider vibration were measured changing the flying height with the variation of the environmental pressure using the current magnetoresistive head on three types of glass disks with different surface topography. The BER increased with the slider vibration, which increased with the reduction of the flying height on the disks. Neither the BER increase nor the slider vibration was observed on the disk which has controlled surface topography such as the centerline average and the peak heights. In the continuous contact recording, the control of the disk surface for the reduction of the slider vibration was found important on the aspect of lowering the BER as well as tribological reliability.