Selection of the 500 Kbps and 1 Mbps perpendicular modes is independent of the actual data rate
selected in the Data Rate Select Register. The user must ensure that these two data rates remain
consistent.
The Gap2 and VCO timing requirements for perpendicular recording type drives are dictated by the design
of the read/write head. In the design of this head, a pre-erase head precedes the normal read/write head
by a distance of 200 micrometers. This works out to about 38 bytes at a 1 Mbps recording density.
Whenever the write head is enabled by the Write Gate signal, the pre-erase head is also activated at the
same time. Thus, when the write head is initially turned on, flux transitions recorded on the media for the
first 38 bytes will not be preconditioned with the pre-erase head since it has not yet been activated. To
accommodate this head activation and deactivation time, the Gap2 field is expanded to a length of 41
bytes. The format field shown on Page 58 illustrates the change in the Gap2 field size for the
perpendicular format.
On the read back by the FDC, the controller must begin synchronization at the beginning of the sync field.
For the conventional mode, the internal PLL VCO is enabled (VCOEN) approximately 24 bytes from the
start of the Gap2 field. But, when the controller operates in the 1 Mbps perpendicular mode (WGATE = 1,
GAP = 1), VCOEN goes active after 43 bytes to accommodate the increased Gap2 field size. For both
cases, and approximate two-byte cushion is maintained from the beginning of the sync field for the
purposes of avoiding write splices in the presence of motor speed variation.
For the Write Data case, the FDC activates Write Gate at the beginning of the sync field under the
conventional mode. The controller then writes a new sync field, data address mark, data field, and CRC.
With the pre-erase head of the perpendicular drive, the write head must be activated in the Gap2 field to
insure a proper write of the new sync field. For the 1 Mbps perpendicular mode (WGATE = 1, GAP = 1),
38 bytes will be written in the Gap2 space. Since the bit density is proportional to the data rate, 19 bytes
will be written in the Gap2 field for the 500 Kbps perpendicular mode (WGATE = 1, GAP =0).
It should be noted that none of the alterations in Gap2 size, VCO timing, or Write Gate timing affect normal
program flow. The information provided here is just for background purposes and is not needed for normal
operation. Once the Perpendicular Mode command is invoked, FDC software behavior from the user
standpoint is unchanged.
The perpendicular mode command is enhanced to allow specific drives to be designated Perpendicular
recording drives. This enhancement allows data transfers between Conventional and Perpendicular drives
without having to issue Perpendicular mode commands between the accesses of the different drive types,
nor having to change write pre-compensation values.
When both GAP and WGATE bits of the PERPENDICULAR MODE COMMAND are both programmed to
"0" (Conventional mode), then D0, D1, D2, D3, and D4 can be programmed independently to "1" for that
drive to be set automatically to Perpendicular mode. In this mode the following set of conditions also
apply:
1. The GAP2 written to a perpendicular drive during a write operation will depend upon the programmed
data rate.
2. The write pre-compensation given to a perpendicular mode drive will be 0ns.
3. For D0-D3 programmed to "0" for conventional mode drives any data written will be at the currently
programmed write pre-compensation.
Note: Bits D0-D3 can only be overwritten when OW is programmed as a "1".If either GAP or WGATE is a
"1" then D0-D3 are ignored.
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