A method of manufacturing a disk drive is disclosed. After installing at
least one disk into a base, a media cover is coupled to the base, wherein
the media cover covers at least a portion of the disk. After coupling the
media cover to the base, a head coupled to an actuator arm and a voice
coil motor for rotating the actuator arm about a pivot is installed into
the base. After installing into the base the head coupled to the actuator
arm and the voice coil motor, the media cover is removed from the base.
After removing the media cover from the base, a HDA cover is coupled to
the base to form a head disk assembly (HDA).