Software channel approach to data banding

A software channel is used to study the capacity gains made possible by data banding. Data banding increases the data rate in steps as the head moves from ID (inner diameter) to OD (outer diameter) to keep the linear bit density more nearly constant. The software channel is used for this experiment because of the ease in changing data rates and codes and optimizing other channel parameters for each band. The components studied are an MIG (metal-in-gap) head of 9.1-μm track width on a thin-film disk of 900-Oe coercivity. The projected gains in disk storage capacity using five data bands, an error-rate criterion for maximum data rate, and optimization of channel parameters for each band vary from 15% to 27% depending on code and the use of equalization