Importance

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Abstract

A disk drive testing apparatus (20) is disclosed which provides substantially automatic cycling through various tests of disk drive units. A graphical display is provided on a screen (25) to the operator to allow the operator to determine whether the disk drive is performing in or out of specifications which may be read into the apparatus from an EEPROM memory module (26). By pressing a single TEST switch (22) on the tester, the operator can cycle through a preselected series of tests on the drive unit. The tester 20 is controlled by a microcomputer central processing unit (42) to cycle through the tests and to provide a display on the screen (25) for selected tests which includes a graphics field defining a performance reference frame including a geometric target specification position, a geometric pass range, and a geometric fail range. A figure is superimposed on the graphics field which is displaced geometrically from the target specification position by a distance which is directly related to a performance variable determined by comparing a signal from the disk drive with a specification reference. The tester also provides an analysis of the probability of disk reading and writing errors and displays a graph (365) illustrating the likelihood that data bit timing from the disk drive will remain within selected window margins over long periods of time.

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First Claim