Method and apparatus are presented for electrically coupling a slider to
ground. In one embodiment, a bonding pad is provided on a side of the
slider body separate from the bonding pad(s) used for read/write signals.
This separate bonding pad is electrically coupled within the slider body
to components that are to be coupled to ground. A separate conductor
provided on the suspension (e.g., a trace, a flex circuit, etc.) may be
electrically coupled to the separate bonding pad via gold ball bonding.
The conductor is also coupled to ground in the hard-disk drive device
(e.g., via the preamplifier). The use of the separated bonding pad and
trace may negate the need to use a conductive adhesive to electrically
ground the slider via its attachment to the tongue of a slider.