Aaron Dayton Little, Age 511781 Infinity Way, San Jose, CA 95122

6624966, Sep 23, 2003

May 31, 2001

09/872193

Jin Hui Ou-Yang - San Jose CA
Serge Hauert - San Jose CA
John R. Gustafson - Los Gatos CA
Chiao-Ping Ku - Fremont CA
Lin Yang - San Jose CA
Gary C. Griffin - Boulder Creek CA
Aaron D. Little - Campbell CA
Sudha Narayanan - San Jose CA

Western Digital Technologies, Inc. - Lake Forest CA

G11B 3314

360 9702

A disk drive including a disk drive base. The disk drive further includes at least one rotatable disk which includes a disk surface extending to an outer disk edge. The disk drive further includes a head stack assembly rotatably attached to the disk drive base in operable communication with the disk. The disk drive further includes an airflow suppressor comb coupled to the disk drive base and stationary relative to the disk drive base during operation of the disk drive. The comb includes a comb body disposed adjacent to the outer disk edge, and at least one tine extending from the comb body along the disk surface for mitigating disk rotation induced airflow upon the head stack assembly adjacent to the disk surface.

6698286, Mar 2, 2004

Sep 30, 2002

10/262466

Aaron D. Little - Campbell CA
John E. Scura - Paso Robles CA

Western Digital Technologies, Inc. - Lake Forest CA

G01M 116

73469, 360 9806

A method of balancing a disk pack for use in a disk drive according to an aspect of the present invention. The disk pack includes a spindle motor and a rotatable disk. The spindle motor is configured to rotate the disk about an axis of rotation of the spindle motor. The spindle motor has a spindle motor imbalance location indicia upon the spindle motor indicative of a location of a spindle motor location imbalance. The method includes detecting the spindle motor imbalance location indicia. The method further includes placing the disk upon the spindle motor. The method further includes attaching the disk to the spindle motor with the disk being off-set from the axis of rotation based upon the detected spindle motor imbalance location indicia for balancing the disk pack by producing a disk off-set imbalance in relation to the axis of rotation.

6757132, Jun 29, 2004

Dec 27, 2000

09/751898

Scott E. Watson - San Jose CA
Peter G. Robinson - Aptos CA
Aaron D. Little - San Jose CA

Western Digital Technologies, Inc. - Lake Forest CA

G11B 17022

360 9912

A disk drive is disclosed comprising a head, a spindle motor having a hub, the hub comprising a cylindrical shaft, the shaft defining a generally cylindrically-shaped outer surface, the outer surface defining a latching member extending around at least part of the circumference of the shaft. A disk is positioned on the spindle motor and an actuator moves the head radially over the disk. A disk clamp clamps the disk to the spindle motor. The disk clamp comprises a ring-shaped body comprising an outer ring-shaped surface abutting the disk, and an inner neck spaced-apart from the outer ring-shaped surface, the inner neck comprising a plurality of independently flexing teeth for contacting the latching member.

6876514, Apr 5, 2005

Sep 30, 2002

10/262253

Aaron D. Little - Campbell CA, US

Western Digital Technologies, Inc. - Lake Forest CA

G11B033/14

360 9702

A disk drive including a disk drive base and a cover attached to the disk drive base. The disk drive further includes a rotatable disk including a disk surface extending to an outer periphery. The disk drive further includes a spindle motor including an axis of rotation. The spindle motor is rotatably coupled to the disk drive base for rotating the disk about the axis of rotation. The disk drive further includes a shroud surface concentrically formed about and adjacent the outer periphery. The disk drive further includes a cavity formed in the shroud surface. The cavity extends to a cavity opening adjacent the outer periphery. The disk drive further includes an airflow diverter element extending from the cover towards the disk surface radially between the cavity opening and the axis of rotation for diverting disk rotation induced airflow adjacent the disk surface.

6930857, Aug 16, 2005

Apr 28, 2003

10/425886

Chen-Chi Lin - San Jose CA, US
Aaron D. Little - Campbell CA, US

Western Digital Technologies, Inc. - Lake Forest CA

G11B033/08

360 9702

Disclosed is a continuous separator plate for use with a disk drive. The continuous separator plate includes a substantially circular continuous outer circumference and a substantially circular continuous inner circumference. A continuous radial portion may be defined between the substantially circular continuous outer and inner circumferences. The continuous radial portion is to be disposed between at least one disk of the disk drive and either the cover or the base of the disk drive, respectively. Further, the continuous radial portion includes a disk side that faces the at least one disk and an opposite side that faces either the cover or the base, respectively. The continuous separator plate further includes a head stack assembly (HSA) accommodation section to accommodate an HSA.

7271978, Sep 18, 2007

Mar 21, 2005

11/086636

Victor W. Santini - Cupertino CA, US
Aaron D. Little - Campbell CA, US

Western Digital Technologies, Inc. - Lake Forest CA

G11B 5/012

360 9701

A disk drive includes a disk drive base including a pair of tab engagement slots. The disk drive further includes a printed circuit board assembly and a PCBA shield including a shield body having opposing first and second ends. The shield body is disposed against the printed circuit board assembly with the printed circuit board assembly between the PCBA shield and the disk drive base. The PCBA shield includes a pair of tabs extending from and integrally formed with the shield body at the first end. The tabs each are respectively disposed in the tab engagement slots for attaching the PCBA shield to the disk drive base. The tabs each are cooperatively sized and configured with the respective tab engagement slots to apply a force between the first end of the shield body and the printed circuit board assembly. The second end is attached to the disk drive base.

7280317, Oct 9, 2007

Mar 22, 2005

11/086637

Aaron D. Little - Campbell CA, US
Seungman Chang - San Jose CA, US

Western Digital Technologies, Inc. - Lake Forest CA

G11B 33/14
G11B 5/55

3602656

A disk drive includes a rotary actuator including a pivot bearing cartridge. The pivot bearing cartridge has a pivot shaft with a shaft body and a shaft threaded end. A disk drive base includes inner and outer sides. The disk drive base includes an actuator support section that has a seal portion including a seal attachment surface disposed along the outer side. The actuator support section includes a raised portion extending from the seal portion towards the inner side. The actuator support section includes a hole portion positioned laterally within the raised portion and extending through the raised portion towards the outer side. The hole portion is engaged with the shaft threaded end. The hole portion includes a distal end that does not extend beyond the seal attachment surface. A seal is disposed upon the attachment surface for sealing the pivot shaft within the disk drive base.

7388731, Jun 17, 2008

Nov 9, 2005

11/269998

Aaron D. Little - Campbell CA, US
Joshua P. Weiher - San Jose CA, US

Western Digital Technologies, Inc. - Lake Forest CA

G11B 33/14

360 9702

A hard disk drive recirculation filter is disposed on a housing surface of a disk drive assembly oriented adjacent to one or more disk surfaces. In one embodiment, the recirculation filter is a pocket filter having a filter support component and a filter element. The filter support includes an inlet, a top surface and a bottom surface, where the bottom surface is used to adhere the pocket filter to the housing surface. The top surface is adapted to adhere the filter element thereto, thereby forming a pocket into which rotationally-induced airflow may enter.