Patent 8432641 was granted and assigned to Western Digital on April, 2013 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Described herein is a disk drive having a head stack assembly with an actuator arm that is rotatable about an axis of rotation and has a damping layer disposed on the actuator arm. The damping layer has first and second damping portions, which can include an adhesive or viscoelastic layer. The first damping portion has different damping properties than the second damping portion.