KR100640668B1 - Method for managing storage space of writable medium and disk drive using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for managing a storage region of a recording medium and a disc drive using the method are provided to make it possible to realize various program execution surroundings in the disc drive by supplying hidden LBA(Logical Block Addressing) regions in the disc drive separately from an original LBA region. It is determined whether commands related to a general LBA region and hidden LBA regions separated from each other are inputted. When a command code related to the hidden LBA regions is inputted, a process of changing the capacities of the hidden LBA regions, a process of activating the hidden LBA regions, and a process of writing data in the hidden LBA regions are performed.

Description

Method for managing storage space of writable medium and disk drive using the same}

1 is a plan view of a head disk assembly of a disk drive to which the present invention is applied.

2 is an electrical circuit diagram of a disk drive to which a storage area management method of a recording medium according to the present invention is applied.

3 is a view showing a divided state of a normal LBA region and a hidden LBA region in the disk according to the present invention.

4 is a flowchart of a storage area management method of a recording medium according to the present invention.

5 is a flowchart illustrating an execution process of a hidden LBA region activation process according to the present invention.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for managing a storage area of a recording medium, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for providing various program execution environments by dividing a storage area of a recording medium.

In general, a hard disk drive, which is one of data storage devices, contributes to computer system operation by reproducing data recorded on a disk by a magnetic head or recording user data on the disk. As such hard disk drives are gradually increasing in capacity, density, and miniaturization, bit per inch (BPI), the recording density in the direction of disk rotation, and track per inch (TPI), the recording density in the radial direction, are increasing. Is required.

The hard disk drive has one LBA area, and users of the hard disk drive install and use a multi tasking operating system such as a window in the area. Hard disk drive manufacturers must provide an environment in which end users can run patch programs that perform tasks such as downloading new firmware code or changing specific settings of the hard disk drive.

According to the prior art, a patch program for MS-DOS has been provided for this purpose, and a general user has an inconvenience in using the MS-DOS bootable floppy diskette to execute a patch program by booting a system.

The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a hidden LBA area on the hard disk drive separate from the original LBA area in order to solve the above-described problems, the storage area management of the recording medium for providing a variety of program execution environment independent of the disk drive A method and a disk drive using the same are provided.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of managing a storage area of a recording medium, the method comprising: determining whether a command code associated with a hidden LBA area separated from a general LBA area is input; And executing a process of changing the capacity of the hidden LBA region, activating the hidden LBA region, and writing the hidden LBA region when a command code related to the hidden LBA region is input. Characterized in that it comprises a step.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a disk drive includes a disk having a general LBA area and a hidden LBA area; And a controller that controls to execute a process of changing a capacity of the hidden LBA area, a process of activating the hidden LBA area, and a process of writing to the hidden LBA area according to an input of a command code related to a hidden LBA area. It is characterized by.

The command code related to the hidden LBA region above may be designed as an ATA memmatory command code that uses a value of a feature register as a subcommand.

The process of activating the hidden LBA region may include transitioning to a hidden LBA region activation reservation state when a command code for activating the hidden LBA region is input; And activating the hidden LBA region when power off / on is performed once in the hidden LBA region activation reservation state.

In addition, when power off / on is performed while the hidden LBA region is activated, the hidden LBA region is activated so that the activation is terminated and the general LBA region is transitioned to the activated state.

In addition, the hidden LBA region is designed to have master boot record information that is different from the general LBA region.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

A hard disk drive, which is a data storage device to which the storage area management method of a recording medium according to the present invention is applied, is composed of a combination of an electrical circuit and a head disk assembly (HDA) composed of mechanical components.

1 shows a configuration of a head disk assembly (HDA) 10 of a hard disk drive to which the present invention is applied.

The head disk assembly 10 includes at least one magnetic disk 12 that is rotated by the spindle motor 14. The disk drive also includes a transducer 16 located adjacent to the surface of the disk 12.

The transducer 16 can read or write information on the rotating disk 12 by sensing and magnetizing the magnetic field of each disk 12. Typically transducer 16 is coupled to the surface of each disk 12. Although illustrated and described as a single transducer 16, it should be understood that it consists of a write transducer for magnetizing the disc 12 and a separate read transducer for sensing the magnetic field of the disc 12. Read transducers are constructed from Magneto-Resistive (MR) devices. The transducer 16 is also commonly referred to as a head.

The transducer 16 can be integrated into the slider 20. The slider 20 is structured to create an air bearing between the transducer 16 and the surface of the disk 12. The slider 20 is coupled to the head gimbal assembly 22. The head gimbal assembly 22 is attached to an actuator arm 24 having a voice coil 26. The voice coil 26 is located adjacent to the magnetic assembly 28 that specifies the voice coil motor 30 (VCM). The current supplied to the voice coil 26 generates a torque for rotating the actuator arm 24 relative to the bearing assembly 32. Rotation of the actuator arm 24 will move the transducer 16 across the disk 12 surface.

The information is typically stored in an annular track of the disc 12. Each track 34 generally includes a plurality of sectors. Each sector includes a data field and an identification field. The identification field is composed of a gray code identifying a sector and a track (cylinder). The transducer 16 is moved across the surface of the disc 12 to read or write information on other tracks.

The disk 12 is largely divided into a maintenance cylinder (generally referred to as MC) area and a user data area for storing information related to the disk drive. The maintenance cylinder area stores various information related to the disc drive, including defect list information and read / write optimization parameter information, and is an area that a user cannot access arbitrarily. The user data area is an area in which a user can substantially write or read data. The user data area of the disk 12 is divided into a plurality of zones, each of which is assigned a spare cylinder for replacing a defect sector.

In particular, in the disc 12 according to the present invention, the user data area is divided into sections 1 and 2 as shown in Fig. 3, section 1 means a general LBA area, and section 2 inputs a specific command code. Means a hidden LBA region that is only active if In addition, the normal LBA region and the hidden LBA region each have separate master boost record information. Thus, the hidden LBA region and the general LBA region cannot be activated at the same time, and are selectively activated.

The hard disk drive is basically managed by a partition table (PT), a master boot record (MBR), and a file allocation table (FAT).

The partition is divided into a primary partition and an extended partition. In the case of the primary partition, LBA sector 0 is used. LBA is a method of indicating a physical location by a linear address method, and one block is usually composed of 512 bytes. That is, the physically first part is where the primary partition is located, also called the master boot record. The primary partition can be divided into four extended partitions, and the extended partition can be further divided into four other extended partitions.

The partition table tells you the boot record location of the logical disk and the location of the extended partition, and internally contains information such as the number of cylinders, heads, and sectors.

The master boot record performs boot related tasks and stores a list of key characteristics of the disk that are essential to the operating system in addition to the boot program. Among the items, information such as the number of bytes per sector, the total number of sectors of the disk, the number of sectors per track, the number of heads, and the like, are managed.

On the other hand, a partition is a partition that divides a single physical disk into several areas for easy management. In the case of multiple operating systems, each unique file system can be independently maintained in a unique area. If this is lost, the other partition area is used to increase the probability of protecting it from loss.

2 shows an electrical system 40 capable of controlling a hard disk drive. The electrical system 40 includes a controller 42 coupled to the converter 16 by a lead / write (R / W) channel circuit 44 and a preamplifier circuit 46.

The controller 42 may be a digital signal processor (DSP), a microprocessor, a microcontroller, or the like. The controller 42 reads information from or writes information to the disk 12 according to a command received from a host device (not shown in the drawing) via the host interface circuit 54. The read / write channel circuit 44 is controlled.

The controller 42 is also coupled to a VCM drive circuit 48 that supplies a drive current to the voice coil 26. The controller 42 supplies a control signal to the VCM driver 48 to control the excitation of the voice coil motor and the movement of the transducer 16.

The ROM 50 stores firmware and various control data for controlling the disk drive. Of course, programs for executing the flowchart of the method for managing the storage area of the recording medium according to the present invention shown in Figs. 4 and 5 are also stored.

When power is supplied to the disk drive, the RAM 52 is loaded with disk drive information read from a maintenance cylinder position of the disk 12.

First, the operation of a general disk drive will be described.

In the data read mode, the disc drive amplifies the electrical signal sensed by the transducer 16 from the disc 12 to facilitate signal processing in the preamplifier 46. The read / write channel circuit 44 then encodes the signal read from the disk 12 into digital signals in accordance with sector pulses generated by the controller 42, converts the signal into stream data, and converts the host interface circuit 54 into a stream signal. To the host device.

Next, in the write mode, the disk drive receives data from the host device (not shown) through the host interface circuit 54 and into the internal buffer (not shown) of the host interface circuit 54. After temporary storage, the data stored in the buffer is sequentially output and converted into a binary data stream suitable for the recording channel of the disc 12 by the read / write channel circuit 44, and then at the time when the sector pulse is generated, the preamplifier ( The recording current amplified by 46 is recorded on the disc 12 through the converter 16.

According to the present invention, the controller 42 executes a process of changing the capacity of the hidden LBA area, activating the hidden LBA area, or writing the hidden LBA area according to input of a command code related to the hidden LBA area. To control it.

That is, when a command code for activating the hidden LBA region is input, the controller 42 makes a transition to the hidden LBA region activation reservation state, and when the hidden LBA region activation reservation state is turned off / on, When executed once, control to activate the hidden LBA region.

In addition, when the power off / on is performed while the hidden LBA region is activated, the controller 42 controls the hidden LBA region to be activated and transitions to a state where the general LBA region is activated.

Next, a command code design method related to the hidden LBA region will be described.

In the present invention, an ATA mandatory command is used as an example.

SMART command (command code: B0h), an ATA mandatory command, is a command that can perform different operations according to this value using the value of the feature register as a subcommand.

On the other hand, the E0h to FFh areas of the feature register are areas that can be used by the manufacturer, and some of these areas are used in the present invention. This area is illustrated for the purpose of explanation of the invention and may be changed to another area as necessary.

Table 1 illustrates SMART Feature register values for CONFIGURE, ACTIVATE and WRITE of the HIDDEN LBA region according to the present invention.

Value  Command E0h  CONFIGURE HIDDEN SPACE E1h  ACTIVATE HIDDEN SPACE E2h  WRITE HIDDEN SPACE

Table 2 shows the format of the CONFIGURE HIDDEN SPACE Command.

The ATA command is defined as a command code and accompanying variables, and the variables are transmitted through a feature register, a sector count register, a sector number register, a cylinder low register, a cylinder high register, and a device / head register.

Register 7 6 5 4 3 2 One 0 Features E0h Sector count na Sector number na Cylinder low na Cylinder high na Device / Head obs na obs DEV na na na na Command B0h

This command sends 512 bytes to the drive to set the hidden LBA area on the drive. The format of the configuration table sent is shown in Table 3 and can be modified as needed. In Table 2, DEV represents the selected device.

Table 3 shows the structure of the hidden LBA region setup table.

Byte F / V Descriptions 0-7 F Hidden LBA Space Configuration Table specifier: "HDNLBASP" 8-9 F Table revision 10-13 V Capacity of hidden LBA space in sectors 14-511 R Reserved

In Table 3, F means that the contents of the byte are fixed and cannot be changed, V means that the contents of the byte are variable and can be changed, and R means that the contents of the byte are reserved and must be 0. I mean.

Table 4 shows the format of the ACTIVATE HIDDEN SPACE Command.

Register 7 6 5 4 3 2 One 0 Features E1h Sector count na Sector number na Cylinder low na Cylinder high na Device / Head obs na obs DEV na na na na Command B0h

By the ACTIVATE HIDDEN SPACE Command, the drive activates the hidden LBA area once after the next power cycle (POWER CYCLE; POWER OFF / ON). After this command, the hidden LBA area is activated only once, and this command must be sent back to the drive to activate the hidden LBA area again.

Table 5 shows the format of the WRITE HIDDEN SPACE Command.

Register 7 6 5 4 3 2 One 0 Features E2h Sector count Sector Count [7: 0] Sector number LBA [7: 0] Cylinder low LBA [15: 8] Cylinder high LBA [23:16] Device / Head obs One obs DEV LBA [27:24] Command B0h

The WRITE HIDDEN SPACE Command is used to write data to the hidden LBA area of the drive, regardless of what is currently selected LBA area. In other words, you can use this command to write data to the hidden LBA area of the drive even when the current hidden LBA area is not selected. With this command, you can write patch programs in the hidden LBA area in addition to the basic operating system (OS) inherent in the hard disk drive.

Next, the storage area management method of the recording medium according to the present invention will be described with reference to the circuit configuration of FIG. 2 and the flowcharts of FIGS. 4 and 5.

The system is designed such that the general LBA area is activated with a default value, and when the system is initialized, the general LBA area is activated (S410).

Next, command code for setting the hidden LBA area, activating the hidden LBA area, or executing writing to the hidden LBA area is provided from the host device (not shown in the drawing) to the controller 42 via the host interface 54. It is determined whether the input to (S420). The command code design method related to the hidden LBA region has already been described above.

As a result of the determination in step 420 (S420), when a command related to the hidden LBA region, that is, a B0h command having feature register values of E0h, E1h, and E2h is input, the operation according to the corresponding command code is executed as follows.

First, when a B0h command having a feature register value of E0h is input, a process of setting a hidden LBA area is executed (S430). The capacity of the hidden LBA region is determined based on the hidden LBA region setting table information as shown in Table 3. In the present invention, when the hard disk drive is shipped from the factory, the initial setting is about 2 Mbytes, and when the user wants to change the capacity of the hidden LBA area, a B0h command having a feature register value of E0h is used.

Second, when a B0h command having a feature register value of E1h is input, a process of activating a hidden LBA region is executed (S440). The process of activating the hidden LBA region will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 5 below.

Third, when the B0h command having the feature register value of E2h is input, writing is performed in the hidden LBA area (S450). That is, by using the format of the WRITE HIDDEN SPACE Command as shown in Table 5, the programs required by the user are written in the hidden LBA area regardless of the currently selected LBA area. In other words, this command can be used to write OS programs and patch programs different from the OS programs stored in the general LBA area as an example in the hidden LBA area.

Next, the hidden LBA region activation process of step 440 (S440) of FIG. 4 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 5.

It is determined whether the command code for activating the hidden LBA area is input to the controller 42 through the host interface 54 (S510), and when the B0h command code having the feature register value of E1h is input, the hidden LBA area activation reservation is made. The state is maintained (S520). That is, the reserved state is maintained to activate the hidden LBA region only if the following conditions are satisfied without immediately activating the hidden LBA region.

In operation S530, it is determined whether the power OFF / ON is executed one cycle in the hidden LBA region activation reservation state.

As a result of the determination in step 530 (S530), when power OFF / ON is performed for one cycle in the hidden LBA area activation reservation state, the hidden LBA area is activated (S540). Of course, when the hidden LBA region is activated, the normal LBA region is not activated.

By the above operation, the setup, activation, and writing processes of the hidden LBA area booted separately from the general LBA area of the disk drive can be executed.

The invention can be practiced as a method, apparatus, system, or the like. When implemented in software, the constituent means of the present invention are code segments that necessarily perform the necessary work. The program or code segments may be stored in a processor readable medium or transmitted by a computer data signal coupled with a carrier on a transmission medium or network. Processor readable media includes any medium that can store or transmit information. Examples of processor-readable media include electronic circuits, semiconductor memory devices, ROMs, flash memory, erasable ROM (EROM), floppy disks, optical disks, hard disks, optical fiber media, radio frequency (RF) networks, Etc. Computer data signals include any signal that can propagate over transmission media such as electronic network channels, optical fibers, air, electromagnetic fields, RF networks, and the like.

Specific embodiments shown and described in the accompanying drawings are only to be understood as an example of the present invention, not to limit the scope of the invention, but also within the scope of the technical spirit described in the present invention in the technical field to which the present invention belongs As various other changes may occur, it is obvious that the invention is not limited to the specific constructions and arrangements shown or described. That is, it is a matter of course that the present invention can be applied not only to various disk drives including hard disk drives, but also to various kinds of data storage devices.

As described above, according to the present invention, a relatively simple single tasking operating system program is embedded in the hidden LBA area by controlling the disk drive to execute a process of setting, activating, and writing a hidden LBA area that is activated independently of the general LBA area. Therefore, there is a convenient effect that the patch program can be executed using only the disk drive without adding a separate device such as an FDD or a CD-ROM in which the boot and patch programs are stored. That is, the disk drive manufacturer conveniently writes a patch program to the hidden LBA area and activates the hidden LBA area to perform tasks such as downloading new firmware code or changing specific settings of the disk drive. The effect is to update the disk drive configuration information or download new firmware.

Claims (9)

In the recording medium management method, Determining whether a command code relating to a hidden LBA region separated from the general LBA region is input; And When a command code related to the hidden LBA region is input, a process of changing the capacity of the hidden LBA region, a process of activating the hidden LBA region, and a process of writing to the hidden LBA region according to the command code are executed. The storage area management method of a recording medium, characterized in that it comprises a step. The method of claim 1, wherein the command code related to the hidden LBA area is designed as an ATA mematory command code using a value of a feature register as a subcommand. The process of claim 1, wherein the process of activating the hidden LBA region is Transitioning to a hidden LBA region activation reservation state when a command code for activating the hidden LBA region is input; And And activating a hidden LBA area when power OFF / ON is performed once in the hidden LBA area activation reservation state. 4. The storage area of a recording medium according to claim 3, wherein when the power off / on is performed while the hidden LBA area is activated, the hidden LBA area is activated and the normal LBA area is activated. How to manage. The method of claim 1, wherein the hidden LBA area has master boot record information different from that of the general LBA area. In the data storage device, A disk having a normal LBA region and a hidden LBA region; And And a controller for controlling a process of changing a capacity of the hidden LBA area, activating the hidden LBA area, and writing a process to the hidden LBA area according to input of a command code related to a hidden LBA area. Disk drive characterized in that. 7. The disk drive of claim 6, wherein the general LBA region and the hidden LBA region are each accessed by separate master boot record information. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the process of activating the hidden LBA region transitions to a hidden LBA region activation reservation state when a command code for activating the hidden LBA region is input, and in the hidden LBA region activation reservation state. And activating said hidden LBA area when power off / on is performed once. The method of claim 6, wherein the controller controls the transition of the hidden LBA region to be activated and the normal LBA region is activated when the power off / on is performed while the hidden LBA region is activated. Disk drive.

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