A disk drive including a negative pressure type head slider having a transducer
for reading/writing data from/to a disk having a plurality of tracks, and an actuator
for moving the head slider across the tracks of the disk. The actuator includes
an actuator arm rotatably mounted on a base of the head slider, a suspension fixed
at a base end portion thereof to a front end portion of the actuator arm, and the
head slider mounted on a front end portion of the suspension. The head slider includes
a front pad having a raised surface and a step surface lower in level than the
raised surface, the transducer formed near the air outlet end, and a first groove
for generating a negative pressure by expanding air once compressed at the front
pad. The bottom surface of the first groove is formed with a plurality of second
grooves continuously extending from the downstream side of the front pad to the
air outlet end. The second grooves are spaced from each other in the transverse
direction of the head slider.