What are Recording Heads?

Recording heads are miniature components (about 1 mm2) that read and write information to and from a hard-drive disk or another storage medium. When writing, the head acts as a tiny electromagnet where positive and negative pulses of current are translated into north and south magnetic poles on a rotating magnetic disk. When reading, the head senses magnetic fields from these poles and translates the alternating fields into positive and negative voltage pulses. These pulses become the bits of digital information stored on the disk. A recording head is bonded to a metal suspension, which is a small arm that holds the head in position above or beneath a disk. The head and suspension is called a head-gimbal assembly or HGA. Sets of HGA's stacked together for installation in a disk drive are called a head-stack assembly or HSA. All of Read-Rite's recording heads are delivered to its customers as HGA's or HSA's.