[ The PC Guide | Systems and Components Reference Guide | Hard Disk Drives | Construction and Operation of the Hard Disk | Hard Disk Read/Write Heads | Hard Disk Read/Write Head Technologies ]

Metal-In-Gap (MIG) Heads

An evolutionary improvement to the standard ferrite head design was the invention of Metal-In-Gap heads. These heads are essentially of the same design as ferrite core heads, but add a special metallic alloy in the head. This change greatly increases its magnetization capabilities, allowing MIG heads to be used with higher density media, increasing capacity. While an improvement over ferrite designs, MIG heads themselves have been supplanted by thin film heads and magnetoresistive technologies. They are usually found in PC hard disks of about 50 MB to 100 MB.

Note: The word "gap" in the name of this technology refers to the gap between the poles of the magnet used in the core of the read/write head, not the gap between the head and the platter.

Next: Thin Film (TF) Heads

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