JP2000311067A - Alternative magnetic disk device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an alternative magnetic disk device which can be alternated even when it is different in the specification of a format or the like in a main body part as a storage device. SOLUTION: This alternative magnetic disk device to be used alternatively for a magnetic disk device having a connection result to a host system is provided with a magnetic disk device main body 2 capable of storing data and having peculiar attribute information, and an attribute information provided means 3 for holding attribute information peculiar to the magnetic disk device having the connection result and providing the held attribute information instead of attribute information on the magnetic disk device main body to the host system.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an alternative magnetic disk drive, and more particularly to an alternative magnetic disk drive suitable for replacing a magnetic disk drive that is in use due to its life.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, magnetic disk devices have been widely used as secondary storage devices for computer systems. The product life of the magnetic disk device tends to be short, but the life of the computer system using the magnetic disk device is not always short as well.

Therefore, there is a case where it is necessary to replace a magnetic disk device for a certain computer system.
However, as the specifications and formats of magnetic disk devices that can be obtained in accordance with technological progress do not conform to the computer system, or if they do not have certain attribute information, they cannot be used in the computer system. May be.

[0004] As the former problem, for example, the format of current magnetic disk devices is mainly 512 bytes / block, but magnetic disk devices of 256 bytes / block were widely used in the past. Therefore, assuming that a magnetic disk device of 256 bytes / block is used when the system is constructed,
In order to maintain the computer system, 256 bytes /
It is necessary to continue to supply block magnetic disk devices. However, it has recently become difficult to deal with it.

[0005] The latter problem is that a host in a computer system excludes a magnetic disk drive having no predetermined attribute information. As attribute information, product information (manufacturer code, etc.), block length information, device revision information, and the like are stored. Therefore, the magnetic disk device cannot be used if the block length information does not conform to the former problem.

[0006] Further, for example, there is a case where reception is not possible due to inconsistency of a maker code. For example, a test may be performed in the course of computer system development to identify a manufacturer or a type of magnetic disk device that is known to have no problem. And in the computer system,
In some cases, only a magnetic disk device having such product information can be received.

[0007] Such a kind of guard mechanism is necessary to ensure the normal operation of the computer system, but on the other hand, there arises a problem that a new magnetic disk device cannot be connected when replacing the magnetic disk device.

[0008]

Therefore, when it is desired to replace a magnetic disk device in a computer system and use an alternative magnetic disk device, the same formatting and apparatus as those of the original magnetic disk device are required. You need to solve the problem of unique attribute information.

More specifically, first, in a system using a magnetic disk drive of 256 bytes / block, the block length is a magnetic disk drive of 256 bytes, so that the current mainstream is 512 bytes / block. Cannot be used as it is.

Next, since the attribute information of the magnetic disk device is unique to the device and different from the replacement target, the attribute information is revised or the software or firmware is used to control the computer itself. The program needs to be revised.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and a first object of the present invention is to provide an alternative magnetic disk drive which can be replaced even if the specifications such as a format in a main body as a storage device are different. Is to provide.

It is a second object of the present invention to provide an alternative magnetic disk drive that can be replaced even when attribute information of a main body portion as a storage device does not conform to a system to be specified.

[0013]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an alternative magnetic disk drive to be used as a replacement for a magnetic disk drive having a connection record to a host system. , A magnetic disk device main body that is configured to be able to store data and has unique attribute information, and retains attribute information specific to a magnetic disk device that has a connection record, and a magnetic disk device main body for a host system. And an attribute information providing unit for providing the held attribute information in place of the attribute information.

Since the present invention is provided with such means, it is possible to impersonate the original magnetic disk drive even if it is based on a different kind of magnetic disk drive. Therefore, even when the attribute information of the main body portion as the storage device does not conform to the system to be specified, the original magnetic disk device can be substituted.

Next, the invention corresponding to claim 2 is claim 1
In the invention corresponding to the above, when connected to a magnetic disk device having a connection record, an alternative magnetic disk device having attribute information copying means for reading attribute information from the magnetic disk device and storing it in an attribute information providing means is provided. is there.

According to the present invention, since such means are provided, the number of manufacturing steps in the alternative magnetic disk drive can be reduced, and the burden of manufacturing labor and the complexity of manufacturing processing can be reduced.

Next, a third aspect of the present invention is a magnetic disk drive to be connected to a higher-level system for reading and writing data with a predetermined block length, wherein the data has a block length longer than the predetermined block length. And dummy data added after each data block in the write data from the host system, converted to a block length handled by the magnetic disk device main body, and delivered to the magnetic disk device main body. When transferring the data stored in the magnetic disk device main body to the higher-level system, data blocks transferred from the data read from the magnetic disk device main body to the predetermined block length by deleting dummy data and converting the data to the predetermined block length are transferred. This is a magnetic disk drive provided with a length conversion means.

Since the present invention is provided with such a means, it is possible to substitute a magnetic disk device or the like even when the specifications such as the format in the main body of the storage device are different.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration example of an alternative magnetic disk drive according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a structural example of the alternative magnetic disk drive.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the magnetic disk drive 1 comprises an HDD main body 2 and an adapter unit 3. The HDD main body 2 is a newly manufactured magnetic disk device having unique specifications (formats and the like) and attribute information, and is a normal hard disk device except that it is new. The function of the storage device of the magnetic disk device is performed by the HDD main body 2.

The size specifications of the magnetic disk drive include:
There are models of which height is full height, half height or 1 inch height. Here, if the original magnetic disk device to be replaced is a half-height, a 15.9-mm-high adapter unit 3 is attached to the 1-inch-height HDD body 2, and the same as the half-height magnetic disk device as a whole. Make it the appearance shape. This is shown in FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b).

As shown in FIG. 1, the adapter unit 3 includes a data size change processing unit 11 and an attribute information providing unit 1.
, An attribute information copy processing unit 13 and a switch unit 14 for relaying information between a computer to which the magnetic disk device 1 is to be connected and the HDD main body 2 and providing attribute information to the computer. It is supposed to.

When the data block length used by the connected computer and the data block length of the HDD main unit 2 do not match, the data size change processing unit 11 executes the computer and HDD
The data block length is converted so that it can be handled by both the main body 2.

The attribute information providing unit 12 holds the attribute information of the original magnetic disk device to be replaced in a non-volatile memory, and transfers the attribute information to the request source when the attribute information is requested from the computer. It is. As a result, the magnetic disk device 1 becomes the original magnetic disk device.

The attribute information copy processing section 13 is a functional section which copies the attribute information from the original magnetic disk device to be replaced and gives it to the attribute information providing section 12.

The switch unit 14 switches the state of the magnetic disk drive 1. For example, when the switch is turned on, it becomes a SCSI initiator when the power is turned on, and enables the attribute information copy processing unit 13 to copy information from the original magnetic disk device. When the switch is turned off, the target is set when the power is turned on, so that reading and writing from the computer becomes possible.

Next, the operation of the alternative magnetic disk drive according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS.

(Format Conversion Processing) FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state of data conversion in the alternative magnetic disk device of the present embodiment.

In the example shown in FIG. 3, an interface program (upper software 2) for a magnetic disk device (hard disk device) in the computer system 21 is provided.
In 2), data is input / output to / from the magnetic disk device at 256 bytes / block. Meanwhile, HDD
The main unit 2 handles data at 512 bytes / block.
Note that the upper software 22 here includes so-called firmware.

In this case, for the data transferred from the upper software 22 to the magnetic disk device 1, dummy data of 256 bytes / block is added by the data size change processing unit 11 of the adapter unit 3 after each transfer.
It is sent to the HDD main body 2.

The 512-byte block including the dummy data is written to the HDD 2 as it is.

On the other hand, when data is transferred from the magnetic disk device 1 to the computer system 21, first, the 512-byte read data read from the HDD main body 2 becomes invalid in the latter half due to the above-described dummy addition processing. It contains data (dummy data). This read data is processed by the data size change processing unit 11 of the adapter unit 3 in the second half.
The 56-byte data is discarded, converted to 256-byte data, and then transferred to the upper software 22.

(Attribute Information Providing Process) FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state of the attribute information providing process in the alternative magnetic disk device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 7A shows a state before replacement, and the attribute information 31 of the original magnetic disk device HDD # 1 to be replaced is replaced with the magnetic disk device HDD # 1.
# 1. The upper software 22 reads the attribute information 31 and permits reading and writing of data from and to the device HDD # 1.

FIG. 4B shows the case of this embodiment.

That is, the attribute information providing unit 12 of the adapter unit 3 of the magnetic disk device 1 stores the attribute information 31 of the HDD # 1 in a nonvolatile state. Attribute information 3
1 is provided by the information providing unit 12. This allows
When viewed as an HDD module including the conversion adapter 3, the magnetic disk device 1 is seen from the upper level as the same device as the original magnetic disk device HDD # 1.

Although the HDD main body 2 has the attribute information 32 originally owned by itself, the attribute information 32 is not used in relation to the computer system 21.

(Attribute Information Acquisition Processing) As described above, the alternative magnetic disk device 1 has the attribute information 31 of the original magnetic disk device HDD # 1. How the attribute information 31 is stored in the adapter unit 3 is described. It is a problem. That is, the attribute information 31 of the HDD # 1 to be stored in the adapter 3 is copied to the alternative magnetic disk device 1 and the disk device 1 is manufactured by this operation. It is necessary to copy the information 31.

For this purpose, for example, a read / write tool is connected to each of the magnetic disk devices 1 and the HDD # 1 to connect the HDD # 1 to the HDD # 1.
It is conceivable to read the attribute information 31 from the disk drive and write it to the magnetic disk device 1. However, providing such a step increases the number of work steps and complicates the processing.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a state of attribute information copy processing in the alternative magnetic disk device of the present embodiment.

For example, in the case of a SCSI device, it is possible to set whether the device is an initiator or a target when the power is turned on.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the magnetic disk drive 1 is connected to the original magnetic disk drive HDD # 1, and the switch unit 14 is turned on to turn on the power.

In this case, the magnetic disk device 1 becomes the initiator, and the original magnetic disk device HDD # 1 becomes the target.

Here, an INQUIRY command is issued from the attribute information copy processing unit 13 of the adapter unit 3 to the original magnetic disk device HDD # 1, whereby the HDD
The attribute information 31 of # 1 is downloaded. The extracted attribute information 31 is stored in the nonvolatile memory of the attribute information providing unit 12 by the attribute information copy processing unit 13.

When the switch section 14 is turned off after the attribute information 31 is obtained, the magnetic disk device 1 becomes a target and functions as an HDD module used in the computer system 21.

The switch section 14 can be configured to be able to be turned on / off by an external electric signal. In this case, the copying operation of the attribute information 31 at the time of manufacturing the magnetic disk device 1 is automatically performed by a switch switching from the manufacturing system and a command to the attribute information copy processing unit 13.

As described above, in the alternative magnetic disk drive according to the embodiment of the present invention, the adapter 3 for converting the data block length is provided in the HDD main body 2 which is a normal hard disk drive. The HDD device of 512 bytes per block, which is currently mainstream, can be used as an HDD device of 256 bytes per block.

Therefore, even in a computer system in which one block is handled by 256 bytes, a long-term supply of a magnetic disk device can be achieved.

Further, since the attribute information 31 of the original magnetic disk device HDD # 1 can be provided from the adapter unit 3, the alternative magnetic disk device 1
2 can be seen as HDD # 1.

Therefore, a higher-level check mechanism (for example, a check mechanism using software or firmware)
, The magnetic disk device 1 as it is
Can be used as

Further, a switch section 14 and an attribute information copy processing section 13 are provided so that the original magnetic disk device HDD #
Since the first attribute information 31 can be automatically copied, the number of manufacturing steps in the magnetic disk device 1 of the present embodiment can be reduced, and the burden on manufacturing and the complexity of manufacturing processing can be reduced. it can.

[0053]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the data block length is converted in the data transfer processing with the host system. However, it is possible to provide an alternative magnetic disk device that can be replaced.

According to the present invention, the attribute information of the original magnetic disk device is copied and used.
It is possible to provide an alternative magnetic disk device that can be replaced even when the attribute information of the main body portion as the storage device does not match the system to be specified.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration example of an alternative magnetic disk device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary view showing an example of a structural configuration of an alternative magnetic disk device in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary view showing a state of data conversion in the alternative magnetic disk device of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary view showing a state of an attribute information providing process in the alternative magnetic disk device of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary view showing the state of attribute information copy processing in the alternative magnetic disk device of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Magnetic disk device 2 ... HDD main body 3 ... Adapter part 11 ... Data size change processing part 12 ... Attribute information provision part 13 ... Attribute information copy processing part 14 ... Switch part 21 ... Computer system 22 ... Upper side software 22 31 ... HDD # 1 attribute information 32 ... Attribute information originally owned by the HDD main body

Claims (3)

[Claims] An alternative magnetic disk device to be used as a substitute for a magnetic disk device having a track record of connection to a host system, wherein the magnetic disk device is configured to be capable of storing data and has unique attribute information. Attribute information for holding attribute information unique to the magnetic disk device having the connection record and providing the held attribute information to the host system instead of the attribute information of the magnetic disk device main body. An alternative magnetic disk device comprising: a providing unit. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an attribute information copying unit that reads attribute information from the magnetic disk device when the magnetic disk device is connected to the magnetic disk device having the connection record and stores the attribute information in the attribute information providing unit. The alternative magnetic disk drive according to claim 1. 3. A magnetic disk drive to be connected to an upper system that reads and writes data with a predetermined block length, the magnetic disk drive main body storing data with a block length longer than the predetermined block length, Dummy data is added after each data block in the write data from the upper system, converted to a block length handled by the magnetic disk device main body, delivered to the magnetic disk device main body, and stored in the magnetic disk device main body. Data block length conversion means for deleting the dummy data from the data read from the magnetic disk drive main body, converting the dummy data to the predetermined block length, and transferring the data to the higher system when transferring the read data to the upper system. A magnetic disk drive comprising: