A latch (100) for a disk drive head positioner assembly (26) is disclosed. A latch assembly (140) is mounted on a printed circuit board (136), and is thereby disposed exteriorly of the disk drive (10'). This latch assembly (140) includes a coil (144), a first pole (148), and a second pole (156). A latch housing (104) includes a pair of blind holes (112) for receiving the poles (148, 156). The latch (100) also includes an armature (120) that is disposed within an interior space (17) of the disk drive (10') and that is rotatably supported by the latch housing (104). This armature (120) includes a permanent magnet (124) and a stop (128). The armature (120) is rotated to either dispose the stop (128) in the path of or out of the path of a tail (32) of the head positioner assembly (26) (the latched and unlatched positions, respectively).