APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING MOVING SPEED OF MAGNETIC HEAD

In an apparatus for controlling a moving speed of a magnetic head, servo data recorded beforehand on a recording medium is read out in sequence by the magnetic head while the magnetic head is moving. Position data indicative of the current position of the magnetic head is acquired on the basis of the read-out servo data and then a moving speed of the magnetic head is computed from the position data. When the remaining distance from the current position to the target track is less than a predetermined number of tracks, the speed of the magnetic head is so controlled that the rate of change in the target speed gradually decreases. The control gain is changed in accordance with the rate of change in the target speed.