Definition: MR Heads (Magneto-resistive Heads)

MR heads were developed to increase area density and improve drive performance. MR heads use separate read and write elements, as opposed to traditional inductive thin-film read-write heads. MR heads use an inductive element for writing data, and a separate magneto-resistive element for reading information. The read element has a magnetically sensitive material that detects data recorded on the magnetic disk surface. MR head construction results in a stronger signal than that produced by inductive thin-film read-write heads, which permits it to read higher area density data. Since the magneto-resistive element can only read data, a conventional thin-film inductive element writes data to the disk.