JPS62131321A - Magnetic memory device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a cheap magnetic memory device by regarding one or plural groups out of the same number of magnetic disc devices connected to all of the disc control parts except spares as one magnetic disc device. CONSTITUTION:A microprogram control part 1, when it receives data storage completion information to each of the first track buffer from all of the disk control parts 4 except the spare, starts up a storage part control part 6. The control part 6 sends out data after the data at the memory address corresponding to the said record number out of the first track buffer including the record number (data transfer start record) informed in advance from the previous stated control part 1. And the storage part control part 6, when it completes the sending of the data of the first track buffer, sends the data of the first track buffer of a buffer corresponding to a disk control part 4 that is the next order.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a magnetic storage device including a magnetic disk device as a storage medium, and particularly to a magnetic storage device capable of high-speed data transfer of large amounts of data.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, in this type of magnetic storage device, in order to access large amounts of data from a host device at high speed, it is necessary for the host device to access multiple magnetic disk controllers connected to the magnetic disk device in parallel. was there. Furthermore, magnetic storage devices are also commercially available in which a single magnetic disk device is equipped with a plurality of read/write circuits to increase the data transfer speed.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, parallel access from a host device to multiple magnetic disk controllers to which magnetic disk devices are connected requires a large number of interfaces, and data sent simultaneously from each magnetic disk device must be aligned and used. This required a great deal of software support. On the other hand, a magnetic storage device in which a plurality of read/write circuits are mounted on a single magnetic disk device has the disadvantage of being expensive. a plurality of disk control units that connect and control one magnetic disk unit; a storage unit that can be read from and written to by each of the disk control units; and a magnetic disk unit that receives commands issued from a host device and is connected to the disk control unit. command converting and distributing means for converting the command so that the command is regarded as a command issued to one magnetic disk drive and issuing the command to each of the disk control units; and a command issued by the command converting and distributing means. Accordingly, each of the plurality of disk control units has finished storing all the read data from the magnetic disk device in the area corresponding to each disk control unit in the storage unit, and the data corresponding to each disk control unit in the storage unit has been stored. a detecting means for detecting that the data in the area to be written has been completed in the magnetic disk device; It is characterized by comprising a storage section control means for storing data from a host device into the storage section, and an interface control means for controlling an interface between the storage section control means and the host device.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, two embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Referring to the figure, first, the microprogram control unit 1 decodes a seek command sent from the host device via the interface control unit 2 as one large-capacity magnetic disk device, and sends the seek command to each disk via path 3. The device address and syringe' are sent to the control unit 4.

A seek instruction specifying one address and a track address is issued. Each disk control unit 4 first selects the corresponding magnetic disk device 5 based on the device address.
Next, the magnetic disk device 5 is instructed to start a seek operation in the cylinder specified by the cylinder address, and after the seek operation is completed, an instruction is given to select the track specified by the track address.

Next, the microprogram control unit 1 decodes the search command sent from the host device, starts data transfer, calculates a code number, and notifies the storage unit control unit 6 via the bus 3.

2. A feature of the present invention is that one or more groups of the same number of magnetic disk drives 5 connected to all the disk control units 4 except for spares are regarded as one magnetic disk drive. . Therefore.

The sum of the selected tracks of the plurality of magnetic disk devices 5 simultaneously selected and sought by all the disk control units 4 except for the spare one corresponds to a track when considered as one magnetic disk device. The respective tracks and the order of writing or reading data are initially set. Also,
This shows that the track capacity when viewed as one magnetic disk device is doubled by the number of all disk control units except for the spare part of the magnetic disk device 5, and the record number is also doubled.

Returning to the operation explanation again, microprogram control section 1
When a read command is issued from the host device, it issues a read instruction to each disk control unit 4.

Next, each disk control section 4 starts reading the data of the selected track of the currently selected magnetic disk device 5 from the start point (index) of the track, and transfers the read data to each disk control H section of the storage section 7. The data is stored in the first track buffer among the plurality of tracks assigned to No.4. When the reading of one track is completed, the disk control section 4 notifies the microprogram control section 1 of the completion. Then, when it receives a notification that the next command is the microprogram control unit 1 read command.

Each disk control section 4 switches the track selection of the magnetic disk device 5 to the next track, and again the disk control section 4 switches the track selection of the magnetic disk device 5 to the next track.
The data is stored in the second track buffer of the storage unit 7 allocated to.

On the other hand, the microprogram control section 1 activates the storage section control section 6 upon receiving notification of completion of data storage in each first track buffer from all the disk control sections 4 except for the spare one. The storage controller 6 stores the first track containing the record number (data transfer start record) notified in advance from the microprogram controller 1, and the buffer (the corresponding record in each track buffer corresponding to each disk controller 4). Data starting from the data at the memory address corresponding to the record number in the first track buffer (including the record number) is sent to the interface control unit 2. When the storage unit control unit 6 finishes sending the data of the first track buffer, it sends the data of the first track buffer of the track buffer to the disk control unit 1 in the next order. Data from the first track buffer of the track buffer is sent to a certain disk control unit 4 one after another, and data from the first track buffer of the track buffer is sent to the last disk control unit 1.

Thereafter, the microprogram control unit 1 has already received a notification from each disk control unit 4 that data storage from each magnetic disk device 5 to each second track buffer has been completed, and the microprogram control unit 1 is unable to start the program. If so, the storage controller 6 sends data to the interface controller 2 from the second track buffer of the track buffer for the disk controller 1, which is the first in order, to the interface controller 2 according to the above procedure. 1. In this embodiment, each track buffer is extended up to the third track buffer, and the storage controller 6
When data transfer from the third track buffer is completed, it returns to the first track buffer and repeats the above operation. In this way, the above-mentioned operation continues until the data transfer of a predetermined number of data is completed or a stop instruction is received from the host device.

If the selected track of the magnetic disk drive 5 is the last track of the cylinder and reading of that track is completed during the above-mentioned operation, the disk control unit 4 instructs the magnetic disk drive 5 to perform an incremental cylinder seek. After the seek is completed, track "0" is selected again.

Next, the operation when writing data to the magnetic disk device 5 will be explained. In this case, the process up to the search command is the same as the data read described above. That is, the data of the track including the pre-written data transfer start code number is
Stored in the truck buffer.

Next, when the microprogram control section 1 receives a write command from the host device, it instructs the storage section control section 6 to perform a write operation. Then, the storage controller 6 starts storing the data from the host device sent via the interface controller 2 from the memory address corresponding to the record with the data transfer start record number of the first track buffer.

That is.

Since the start of data transfer is not necessarily at the track break, the storage controller 6 implements a partial write (cumulative write) mode at the start of writing.

Each of the first
Start writing data from the target record where data is stored in the track buffer. Thus, when the data of the host device has been stored in the first track buffer corresponding to the last disk control section 4, the storage section control section 6 notifies the microprogram control section 1 and also stores the data in the first disk control section 4. data from the higher-level device begins to be stored in the second track buffer corresponding to .

On the other hand, the microprogram control section 1 instructs each disk control section 4 to perform a write operation. Each disk control section 4 starts writing the data of the first track buffer corresponding to the disk control section 4 from the starting point of the selected track of the currently selected magnetic disk device 5. The following is the same as the read operation, so the explanation will be omitted.

Note that the magnetic disk device of the present invention is used in a broad sense including a magneto-optical disk device.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, large-capacity data can be stored with soft visibility for a single conventional magnetic disk device, without the need for major modification of the software or the need for many host interfaces. This has the effect of allowing high-speed access. Furthermore, the magnetic disk device used in the present invention can be of the type generally used in computer systems.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figure is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of a magnetic storage device according to the present invention. 1... Microprogram control unit, 2... Interface control unit, 3... Path, 4... Disk control unit. 5... Magnetic disk device, 6... Storage unit control unit, 7
・・・Upper position

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of disk control units that connect and control at least one magnetic disk device, a storage unit that can be read from and written to by each of the disk control units, and a command issued from a host device that is connected to the disk control unit. command converting and distributing means for converting the command and issuing the command to each of the disk control units so that the command is regarded as a command issued to one magnetic disk device, and the command converting and distributing means In response to the issued command, each of the plurality of disk control units has finished storing all the read data from the magnetic disk device in the area corresponding to each disk control unit in the storage unit, and each disk in the storage unit a detection means for detecting that data in an area corresponding to the control section has been written to the magnetic disk device; and a detection means for detecting that data in the area corresponding to the control section has been written to the magnetic disk device; and a storage unit control means for storing data from a higher-level device into the storage unit, and an interface control unit for controlling an interface between the storage unit control unit and the higher-level device. Device.