Recording disk cartridge and disk drive

1 . A recording disk cartridge including a recording disk medium and a cartridge case for housing the recording disk medium, comprising:

a base frame comprising:

sidewalls of the cartridge case for substantially surrounding a radial directional outside of the recording disk medium and;

a side opening for exposing the recording disk medium to the outside;

a lower plate disposed below the recording disk medium for configuring a lower wall of the cartridge case, the lower plate having a center hole for coupling a spindle of a disk drive to the recording disk medium;

an upper plate disposed above the recording disk medium for configuring an upper wall of the cartridge case;

a rotary shutter for opening and closing the side opening by a rotation movement thereof within the cartridge case;

a swing shutter disposed between the recording disk medium and the lower plate and engaging with the rotary shutter for swinging in response to a rotational movement of the rotary shutter to open and close the center hole; and

a ramp member for guiding a head of the disk drive into the recording disk cartridge through the side opening toward a recording face of the recording medium.

2 . The recording disk cartridge as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the ramp member is supported by the base frame to be disposed between the lower plate and the upper plate.

3 . The recording disk cartridge as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the base frame comprises a wear resistant resin, and the ramp member is molded integrally with the base frame.

4 . The recording disk cartridge as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the ramp member comprises a hard plated layer at a surface thereof.

5 . The recording disk cartridge as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the ramp member comprises a wear resistant material different from a material of the base frame.

6 . The recording disk cartridge as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the wear resistant material comprises either of a metal or a ceramic.

7 . The recording disk cartridge as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the rotary shutter is disposed in the base frame more inwardly in a radial direction of the recording disk medium than the ramp member.

8 . The recording disk cartridge as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the ramp member includes an inner edge extending coaxially with the recording disk medium.

9 . The recording disk cartridge as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the base frame has a rectangular shape and the recording disk medium has a circle form in a plan view, and the ramp member is disposed at a space defined by a corner of the rectangular shape and the circle of the recording disk medium.

10 . The recording disk cartridge as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the ramp member comprises:

a plate-like member disposed in parallel to the recording disk medium and extending from the side opening to a vicinity of the recording disk medium; and

a supporter for supporting the plate-like member with respect to the base frame.

11 . The recording disk cartridge as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the recording disk medium includes first and second recording faces, the plate-like member is aligned with a center plane of the recording disk when the recording disk is loaded in the disk drive, wherein the plate-like member provides at first and second surfaces thereof sliding contacts with first and second swing arms holding the head and the another head to guide the head and another head, respectively; and

a planer support disposed in parallel to the recording disk medium for supporting the plate-like member with respect to the base frame to avoid interference between the support and the first and second swing arms.

12 . The recording disk cartridge as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the planner support comprises clearance means for providing clearance spaces to allow the head and the anther head to pass just above and just below the support, respectively.

13 . The recording disk cartridge as claimed in claim 12 , wherein a thickness of the plate-like member is greater than that of the support in a thickness direction of the recording disk medium.

14 . The recording disk cartridge as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the plate-like member has a slope at an edge thereof for providing a sliding contact with a swing arm holding the head to allow the head to approach a recording face of the recording disk medium in a thickness direction of the recording disk medium while the ramp member guides the head.

15 . The recording disk cartridge as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the ramp member includes an end face which is flush with a side surface of one of the side walls adjacent to the end face to allow the recording disk cartridge to be inserted into the disk drive to couple the ramp member to a parking member of the disk drive for parking the head to receive the head from the parking member and guide the head to the parking member.

16 . The recording disk cartridge as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the recording disk medium is selected from the group consisting of a magnetic disk medium, a magneto-optical disk medium, and a phase change optical disk medium.

17 . A disk drive for driving the recording disk cartridge claimed in claim 10 , comprising:

a head for writing information on and reading the information from the recording disk medium;

a swing arm for holding the head;

a parking member for parking the swing arm at a position apart from the recording disk medium; and

an extending member extending from the swing arm for allowing the parking member to park the swing arm.

18 . The disk drive as claimed in claim 17 , wherein the parking member is made contact with the plate-like member and has a surface provided with a sliding contact with the extending member to guide the head toward the recording disk medium in which the extending member slides on the surfaces of the parking member and the plate-like member, wherein the surface of the plate-like member is flush with the surface of the parking member.

19 . A disk drive for driving the recording disk cartridge claimed in claim 10 , comprising:

first and second heads as the head for writing information on and reading the information from the recording disk medium;

first and second swing arms for holding the first and second heads at tips thereof, respectively;

a parking member for parking the first and second swing arms at positions apart from the recording disk medium; and

first and second extending members extending from the first and second swing arms, respectively, at least one of the first and second extending members including a protrusion part for temporarily catching the parking member to allow the parking member to park the first and second swing arms, wherein the parking member is coupled to the ramp member to guide the first and second heads along surfaces thereof having sliding contacts of the protrusion part with the parking member and the ramp member toward the recording disk medium.

20 . The disk drive as claimed in claim 19 , wherein the parking member comprises a V-shape channel for receiving the protrusion.