referring now to the drawings , wherein like characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views , there is shown in fig1 a conventional disk drive system 10 in which the present invention ma be incorporated . one such disk drive system is the model 8380 , manufactured by the assignee of the present invention . as is conventional , the system 10 includes a head / disk assembly 12 with a plurality of recording disks 14 ( only one of which is shown for purposes of clarity ) mounted for rotation on a spindle 16 . the head / disk assembly 12 further includes one or more conventional read / write heads 18 which are moved into and out of juxtaposition with the recording disks 14 by a carriage 20 driven by a linear motor 22 . as is well known , interference between the recording disks 14 and the heads 18 can cause distortion in the signals which are recorded upon the recording disks 14 , and can further cause substantial damage to the head / disk assembly 12 if such interference continues in the form of rubbing contact between the recording disks 14 and the heads 18 . as a result , it is extremely desirable to be able to detect such interference , especially in the field by technicians assigned to diagnose and repair such disk drive systems . often times , the carriage 20 of typical disk drive systems such as the model 8380 manufactured by storage technology corporation or the model 3380 manufactured by ibm corporation include a threaded bore at the face of the carriage 20 remote from the heads 18 , the bore being used during movement or transportation of the disk drive system to immobilize the carriage 20 in order to protect its components . in accordance with one important aspect of the present invention , therefore , means 24 are coupled to the carriage 20 for conducting acoustic stress waves therefrom , the conducting means preferably comprising a waveguide in the form of an aluminum rod . since such acoustic stress waves correspond to vibrations caused by interaction between the recording disks 14 and the heads 18 , the conducting means 24 transmits them to a transducer means 26 coupled thereto for processing and analysis by processing mean 28 and display means 30 . while an aluminum rod is preferred for the conducting means 24 due to its impedance matching characteristics , its strength , and its machinability , it should be noted at this juncture that any suitable acoustic waveguide may be utilized within the teachings of the present invention . for example , the carriage 20 in typical disk drive systems is formed primarily of magnesium . in such cases , therefore , a magnesium rod could be utilized to minimize attenuation of the acoustic stress waves conducted therefrom , and thus optimize the performance of a detector incorporating such conducting means . threads formed on a magnesium rod , however , would be liable to be galled causing undesirable particulate matter to be projected within the head / disk assembly 12 thereby causing a disadvantage which would far outweigh the benefits of its improved acoustic coupling . the conducting means 24 is coupled to the carriage 20 by any suitable means which ensures proper transmission of the acoustic stress waves from the carriage 20 to the conducting means 24 . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention , the carriage 20 includes the previously described bore ( not shown ) into which the conducting means ( i . e , the rod ) 24 is threaded . it should be noted at this juncture , furthermore , that the transducer means 26 , as well as the conducting means 24 , should provide good impedance matching . that is , as is well known , when two dissimilar metals are coupled to one another , there exists some reflection of the waves propagated through such metals at their interface . such reflection of the waves would cause an undesirable amount of echoes on the waveform during analysis which would foster an improper determination of the pulse height of the waveform . accordingly , the transducer means 26 is preferably comprised of a &# 34 ; pico &# 34 ; type sensor which is attached to the end of the rod in order to achieve an optimum coupling of the travelling acoustic wave . one such suitable sensor , which includes a pzt - 5a crystal , is manufactured by physical acoustics corporation of newark , n . j . the processing means 28 , as shown in greater detail in fig2 is comprised generally of various signal processing circuitry adapted to receive a signal a from the transducer means 26 , the signal a corresponding to acoustic stress waves conducted from the carriage 20 and caused by interactions between the recording disks 14 and heads 18 . an amplifier 32 is first utilized to increase the gain of the signal a . the amplified signal provided for by the amplifier 32 is then filtered by a high - pass filter 34 . the high - pass filter 34 in the preferred embodiment of the present invention filters those frequencies above 20 kilohertz , since those frequencies below 20 kilohertz are related to vibrations or resonances occurring in the head / disk assembly 12 due to causes other than head / disk interaction . thereafter , the amplified and filtered signal is passed to demodulator means 36 which includes an absolute value detector 37 and another filter 38 . in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention , a conventional absolute value detector 37 ( which is also known as a full - wave rectifier ) is utilized in the demodulator means 36 since it is desirable to preserve the information content of the signal a to as great an extent as is possible . because the amplitude or pulse height of the amplified , filtered and demodulated form of the signal a ( i . e ., after it has exited the demodulator means 36 ) is a function of the degree of interaction between the recording disks 14 and the heads 18 , the acoustic wave processed by the processing means 28 is also a function of the energy exchange between such disks 14 and heads 18 . accordingly , the signal is thereafter low - pass filtered by the filter means 38 in order to produce a signal which can be time averaged in external processing means as will be explained in greater detail herein below . the signal b is then fed to the display means 30 for analysis by the field technician . this display means 30 can be utilized to perform frequency or time domain analysis , and is suitably comprised of a conventional waveform analyzer , such as the model dp6000 manufactured by the data precision corporation of danvers , mass . a preferred embodiment of the processor means 28 , as well as an alternative form of the amplifier 32 to be used with such processing means 28 will now be explained with reference to fig3 and 4 . the amplifier 32 shown in fig3 with exemplary components indicated therein , provides about 40 db gain for the signal a before it is fed to the filter 34 . an alternative amplifier 32a shown in fig4 with exemplary components indicated therein , is more broader banded in nature than the filter 32 shown in fig3 and has a flatter response up to about 500 kilohertz . a broad band approach to the detection of head - to - disk interference is preferable filter 34 then passes the amplified signal a to the demodulator means 34 , with the absolute value detector 35 providing a unity gain . overall , the processing means 28 shown in fig3 and 4 provide about 60 db gain between the signals a and b . obviously , many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings . for example , the above described apparatus is not only useful in detecting head - to - disk interference , but is also useful in detecting other undesirable resonances which are manifestations of problems with spindle bearings , sliders and other mechanical components in conventional disk drive systems . as a result , the high - pass filter 34 used for head - to - disk interference detection may be substituted in accordance with the present invention by a low - pass filter or a bandpass filter . since manifestations of slider suspension resonances are typically found in the range of approximately 2 kilohertz , a low - pass filter would be substituted for the high - pass filter 34 shown in fig2 in order to detect slider suspension resonances . in a similar manner , since air bearing resonances are typically found in the range of approximately 18 kilohertz and typically have a high q factor , a bandpass filter would be substituted for the high - pass filter 34 in order to detect air bearing resonances . filter 34 could also comprise a filter network , including each of the above described filters , for selectively diagnosing a number of problems associated with conventional disk drive systems . it is , therefore , to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the present invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein .