KR20070096081A - Method for restoring the master boot record of storage medium and disk drive using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for restoring a master boot record of a storage medium and a disk drive using the same are provided to restore damaged master boot record information by copying master boot record information stored in a user area. Information on a master boot record stored in a user area of a disk is copied in a non-user area of the disk by a first command(S330). The master boot record information stored in the non-user area is copied and restored in a record information storage position of the user area by a second command. The history information indicating backup of the master boot record information is stored in a predetermined position of the non-user area when the master boot record information is copied in the non-user area of the disk(S340). The master boot record is restored only in case the master boot record information has been stored in the non-user area.

Description

Method for restoring the master boot record of storage 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 the master boot record recovery method of a storage medium according to the present invention is applied.

3 is a flowchart of a master boot record backup method according to the present invention.

4 is a flowchart of a master boot record recovery method according to the present invention.

5A is a diagram schematically showing a master boot record backup execution state.

5B is a diagram schematically showing a master boot record recovery execution state.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for recovering damaged information of a storage medium, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for recovering master boot record information of a storage 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.

Hard disk drives are basically managed by the Master Boot Record (MBR). 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.

The master boot record is stored at LBA 0, which is the first part of the user area of the hard disk. It contains information about the location of each partition that is divided when the hard disk is formatted. It contains a program that can read the boot sector record of the partition where the operating system to be loaded is stored.

As a result, if the master boot record information is damaged on the hard disk drive, the data stored on the hard disk cannot be read, and when the partition recovery program is used, it is necessary to recover the partition by backtracking from the contents of the drive. There was a time-consuming problem.

SUMMARY In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a method for recovering a master boot record of a storage medium and a disk drive using the same, which can easily recover master boot record information in a hard disk drive itself.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, (a) copying the master boot record information stored in the user area of the disk to the non-user area of the disk using a first specific command; And (b) copying and restoring master boot record information stored in the non-user area to a master boot record information storage location of the user area by using a second specific command.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a disk drive includes a disk having a user area and a non-user area; And copying the master boot record information stored in the user area of the disk to the non-user area of the disk according to the input of the master boot record backup command, and copying the master boot record information to the non-user area of the disk according to the input of the master boot record recovery command. And a controller for copying the stored master boot record information to a master boot record storage location of a user area of the disk.

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 this 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 disk 12 surface. 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 user area and a non-user area. The user area is an area where the user can substantially write or read data, and the non-user area is an area for storing information related to the disk drive.

The Master Boot Record (MBR) information is stored in the user area, and the Master Boot Record information has information about the location of each partition divided when the disk 12 is formatted. In general, the master boot record information is stored in LBA 0, which is a portion corresponding to the first area of the user area of the disk 12.

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.

The non-user area is generally referred to as a maintenance cylinder (commonly referred to as MC) area. 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.

2 shows an electrical circuit of a disk drive to which the present invention is applied.

As shown in FIG. 2, the disk drive according to the present invention includes a disk 12, a converter 16, a preamplifier 210, a write / read channel 220, a buffer 230, a controller 240, a ROM. 250A, RAM 250B, host interface 260, and voice coil motor (VCM) driver 270.

The controller 240 may be designed as a digital signal processor (DSP), a microprocessor, a microcontroller, or the like. The controller 240 records for reading information from or writing information to the disk 12 according to a command received from a host device (not shown in the drawing) via the host interface 260. Control the read channel 220.

The controller 240 is also coupled to the VCM driver 270 which supplies a drive current to the voice coil 26. The controller 240 supplies a control signal to the VCM driver 270 to control the excitation of the voice coil motor and the movement of the transducer 16.

The ROM 250A stores firmware and various control data for controlling the disk drive. Of course, programs for executing the flowchart of the master boot record backup and recovery method according to the present invention shown in Figs. 3 and 4 are also stored.

When power is supplied to the disk drive, the RAM 250B loads 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 converter 16 (also called head) from the disc 12 in the preamplifier 210 to facilitate signal processing. Then, in the recording / reading channel 220, the amplified analog signal is encoded into a digital signal that can be read by a host device (not shown), converted into stream data, and temporarily stored in the buffer 230, and then the host. It transmits to the host device through the interface 260.

In contrast, in the data write mode, the disk drive receives data from the host device through the host interface 260 and temporarily stores the data in the buffer 230, and sequentially outputs the data stored in the buffer 230 to write / write the data. After conversion by the read channel 220 into a binary data stream suitable for the write channel, the write current amplified by the preamplifier 210 is written to the disc 12 via the converter 16.

According to the present invention, the controller 240 receives a command output from the host device through the host interface 260, and is stored in the user area of the disk 12 when the input command is a master boot record backup command. Copy the master boot record information to the non-user area of the disk 12, and if the input command is a master boot record recovery command, the master boot record information stored in the non-user area of the disk 12 is stored in the disk 12. Control to copy to the master boot record storage location of the user area.

In addition, the controller 240 generates backup history information when copying the master boot record information to the non-user area of the disk 12, and stores the backup history information in a specific location of the non-user area. By checking the backup history information stored in a specific location of the user area, it controls to restore the master boot record only when the master boot record information has a history stored in the non-user area.

Then, the method for backing up the master boot record and the method for restoring the master boot record according to the present invention will be described in detail.

First, a method of backing up a master boot record will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 3.

If the user wants to back up the master boot record, the host device (not shown) connected to the hard disk drive selects a command defined for the master boot record backup (S310).

When the master boot record backup command is selected in step 310 (S310), the host device transmits the master boot record backup command code to the controller 240 of the hard disk drive through the host interface 260 (S320). That is, a command defined to back up the master boot record from the host device to the hard disk drive may be sent by using a BIOS program or by using a backup utility program.

Then, the controller 240 controls to copy the master boot record information stored in the user area of the disk 12 to the non-user area of the disk 12 (S330). That is, the controller 240 reads and stores the master boot record information stored in the LBA address 0 in the buffer 230 and then stores the master boot record information stored in the buffer 230 in the non-user area. The process of writing to the first position of the maintenance cylinder area is executed.

Then, the controller 240 executes a process of writing the MBR backup history information indicating that the master boost record information has been stored in the maintenance cylinder to the second position of the maintenance cylinder area (S340).

According to the flowchart of FIG. 3, as shown in FIG. 5A, for example, MBR information stored in a user area of a disk according to an MBR COPY command (a command defined for MBR backup) transmitted to a drive using a BIOS program. Will be copied to the non-user area for backup.

Next, a method of recovering a master boot record will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 4.

If the master boot record information stored in the user area of the disk is erased or corrupted, the disk drive will not be able to perform normal read / write operations.

Accordingly, when the master boot record information stored in the user area is erased or corrupted, the user selects a command defined for master boot record recovery in order to recover the master boot record information (S410).

When the master boot record recovery command is selected in step 410 (S410), the host device transmits a master boot record recovery command code to the controller 240 of the hard disk drive through the host interface 260 (S420). That is, a command defined to restore the master boot record from the host device to the hard disk drive may be sent by using a BIOS program or by using a restore utility program.

Then, the controller 240 checks the MBR backup history information by accessing the maintenance cylinder second position before restoring the master boot record of the disk 12 (S430).

The MBR backup history information is checked to determine whether there is a history of backing up the MBR information in the maintenance cylinder area which is a non-user area (S440).

As a result of the determination in step 440 (S440), if there is a history of backing up the MBR information in the maintenance cylinder area, the location where the MBR information is stored in the user area is the master boot record information stored in the first location of the maintenance cylinder area. Copy to LBA 0 (S450). That is, the controller 240 reads the master boot record information backed up to the first position of the maintenance cylinder area, stores the master boot record information in the buffer 230, and then stores the master boot record information stored in the buffer 230 in the user area. WRITE is executed at LBA 0 which is the location where master boot record information is stored.

However, if there is no history of backing up the MBR information in the maintenance cylinder area as a result of the determination in step 440 (S440), a report indicating that there is no master boot record information backed up in the maintenance cylinder area without restoring the master boot record information is issued. (S460).

As shown in FIG. 5B according to the flowchart of FIG. 4, as an example, an MBR backed up to a non-user area of a disk according to an MBR RESTORE Command (a command defined for MBR recovery) transferred to a drive using a BIOS program. The information is copied to the MBR storage location in the user area to recover damaged MBR information.

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 on 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, the master boot record information stored in the user area of the disk is stored and backed up in the non-user area, and the master boot record information stored in the user area is stored in the non-user area in case of damage. By copying and restoring the master boot record information to the master boot information storage location of the user area, even if the master boot record information of the disk drive is damaged, it can be easily recovered.

Claims (6)

(a) copying the master boot record information stored in the user area of the disk to the non-user area of the disk using a first specific command; And (b) copying and restoring master boot record information stored in the non-user area to a master boot record information storage location of the user area by using a second specific command, and recovering the master boot record of the storage medium. Recovery method. The method of claim 1, wherein the first specific command and the second specific command are transmitted to a disk drive using a BIOS program. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-user area comprises a maintenance cylinder area. The method of claim 1, wherein when copying the master boot record information to the non-user area of the disk, history information indicating that the master boot record information is backed up is stored in a specific location of the non-user area, and according to the second command. And recovering the master boot record only when the history information is stored in the non-user area by checking the history information before recovering the master boot record information. In the data storage device, A disk having a user area and a non-user area; And Copy the master boot record information stored in the user area of the disk to the non-user area of the disk according to the input of the master boot record backup command, and store it in the non-user area of the disk according to the input of the master boot record recovery command. And a controller for controlling the master boot record information to be copied to a master boot record storage location of a user area of the disk. The method of claim 5, wherein the controller generates and stores backup history information when the master boot record information is copied to a non-user area of the disk, and checks the backup history information when the master boot recovery command is input. And recovering the master boot record only when there is a history of master boot record information stored in the non-user area.

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