US Patent 7594240 Disk drive apparatus

The present invention is directed to a disk drive apparatus in which an optical disk (2) is detachably loaded, and comprises a casing (3) including a front panel (18) in which a disk insertion/withdrawal hole (19) of which length in length direction is caused to be substantially the same as the diameter of the optical disk, and a biasing member (70) for biasing plural rotational arms (61), (62) for holding the outer circumference of the optical disk therebetween in a predetermined direction in accordance with carrying position of the optical disk, wherein, between the disk insertion/withdrawal position and the disk loading position, there are provided a disk carrying mechanism (60) for performing carrying operation of the optical disk, a disk loading portion (41) to which the optical disk is loaded, a disk rotation drive mechanism (42) for optical disk, an optical pick-up (43) for performing recording and/or reproduction of information signals with respect to the optical disk, and a pick-up feed mechanism (44) for allowing the optical pick-up to undergo feed operation, wherein a slide contact piece (23) caused to be slidably in contact with the outer circumferential surface of the optical disk caused to undergo insertion/withdrawal operation with respect to the disk insertion/withdrawal hole is provided at one end portion in a length direction of the disk insertion/withdrawal hole to limit sudden movement of the optical disk.