A protector protuberance is formed on a head slider incorporated in a recording
medium drive such as a hard disk drive. The protector protuberance is allowed to
collide against a contamination on a recording medium in front of a head element
mounted on the head slider. The head element can be protected from collision against
the contamination behind the protector protuberance. The protector protuberance
is located as close to the head element as possible. Even with a smaller protector
protuberance, the front and rear support protrusions contact the recording medium
so as to hold the slider body above the surface of the recording medium. An increase
can be prevented in the adsorption acting between the slider body and a lubricant
agent spreading over the surface of the recording medium. A smaller protector protuberance
enables the head element to approach the recording medium as close as possible
upon read/write operations.
