JPH01309117A - Magnetic disk device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To delete the defects and to ensure the effective operation of a system by preparing plural different standard interfaces and controlling the connection to a host device and a magnetic disk driving part via a controller for each interface. CONSTITUTION:The standard A-C interfaces 1-3 are prepared together with the A-C controllers 4-6 for interfaces 1-3 respectively, a control means 7 which controls the controllers 4-6 and a disk driving part 8, and a disk driving part 8. In other words, a control means is used for a disk device controller of each interface for control of interfaces. Thus a disk device is applicable in response to each interface standard via a host device having plural different interface standards. Then the host devices having different standards can have accesses to a common disk driving part. Thus a file can be shared.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a magnetic disk device, and particularly to control of magnetic disk storage.

(Prior Art) A magnetic disk drive generally includes one or more disk return units and a controller for controlling a disk drive unit. The controller is a disk drive unit,
It is connected to a host device via an interface based on a predetermined interface standard, receives commands sent from the host device, decodes the commands, and sends commands to the disk drive unit to perform detailed operations. do. On the other hand, the disk movement unit performs head positioning, data writing, and other operations according to commands sent by the controller.
Or perform a read operation.

Conventionally, host devices and magnetic disk devices have only been equipped with an interface based on a single predetermined interface standard, so the same interface standard has always been used when connecting a host device and a magnetic disk device. There is a need.

If this requirement is not met, the shape and size of the physical interface, the electrical signal standard, etc.
It was not possible to directly connect the two devices due to differences in commands, data transfer speeds, formats, etc.

In order to interconnect a plurality of devices having such different interface standards, it is necessary to match the interface standard of the host device or magnetic disk device to the standard of the other device. Sixth, in the prior art, an interface conversion circuit had to be provided.

On the other hand, magnetic disk storage! Files can be shared by connecting the device to multiple host devices with the same interface and accessing a common disk drive from the multiple host devices. In this case, in order to operate the disk drive unit efficiently, it is necessary to provide an interface control circuit in the controller to control interfaces with a plurality of host devices.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The conventional magnetic disk devices described above are connected using interfaces that have the same interface standards as the host device, so the shape and size of the physical interface, the electrical signal standards, The drawback is that it is impossible to directly control the controller with a higher-level device that has different interface standards such as command systems or data transfer speeds and formats.

Although an interface conversion circuit is sometimes provided to perform this control, it has the disadvantage that it cannot fully achieve the performance of the interface standard.

On the other hand, by providing an interface control circuit that controls multiple identical interfaces, it becomes possible to connect a common disk drive to multiple host devices, but unless the host device has a specific interface standard, the connection cannot be made. Therefore, it has the disadvantage that files cannot be shared with higher-level devices of other standards.

Furthermore, if multiple host devices try to access one magnetic disk device at the same time using this interface control circuit, the other host device will not be able to access it until one of the host devices finishes accessing. becomes.

Therefore, the higher-level device that cannot be selected has the disadvantage that there is an access waiting time.

The frequency with which this access wait time occurs and the wait time vary depending on the number of host devices and the rate at which the host devices use disk devices, but generally the access wait time increases as the number of host devices increases. Therefore, if an interface control circuit is provided and a common disk drive unit is used by a plurality of host devices, there is a drawback that a long waiting time occurs and the efficiency of the system is reduced.

In addition, the magnetic disk device connected to the host device is
It is not always accessed by the higher-level device,
There is a drawback that unused time occurs during which the magnetic disk device waits for access from the host device. The frequency and time at which this unused time occurs varies depending on the number of host devices and the rate at which the host devices use the disk device, but in general, the fewer the number of host devices, the longer the unused time becomes.

Therefore, when there are a plurality of host devices, a single host device will have a longer unused time than one, and will consume more power. That is, if a disk device is used alone by one host device, there is a drawback that the system and the magnetic disk device cannot be operated efficiently.

An object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks and efficiently operate the system by having a plurality of interfaces with different standards, connecting each interface to a host device, and controlling the magnetic disk drive unit with a controller. An object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic disk device configured to be operable.

(Means for Solving the Problems) A magnetic disk drive according to the present invention includes a magnetic disk moving section, a plurality of controllers for connecting with a host device and controlling the magnetic disk moving section, a host device and the above-mentioned plurality of controllers. 7, and control means for controlling each controller corresponding to each of the plurality of interfaces.

(Example) Next, the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a magnetic disk device l according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram showing main parts of an example. In Figure m1, the magnetic disk device 9 which is an embodiment of the present invention has an A interface 1 which is an A standard interface, and a B interface 1 which is an A standard interface.
B interface 2, which is a 4-rated interface, C interface 3, which is a p-7 ace with JIt rating, A controller 4, which is a precaution to control A interface 1, and B, which controls B interface 2. a controller 5, a C controller 6 for controlling the C interface 3, and a sixth control means for controlling each of the controllers 4 to 6 and the disk drive section 8),
It is configured to include a disk and a drive section 8. ,A'
(,/Turf Ace 1 is connected to A controller 4,
B interface 2 is connected to B controller 5,
The C interface 3 is connected to the C controller 6. Also, A controller 4. B controller 5, C
The controller 6 and the disk drive section 8 are both connected to a control means.

The feature of the present invention is that, as shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of interfaces are provided between a plurality of host devices having different interface standards, and a control means for controlling controllers and controllers is provided for each interface standard. That's true.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

When the magnetic disk drive [9 is not used by any host device connected via the interface, 1
It is assumed that a group of commands for performing a data reading operation are sent from the host device to the magnetic disk device 9. First, the host device sends a command to select disk hard drive @8.

The command sent from the host device is sent to A interface 1.
It is sent to the A controller 4 via. , A controller 4 decodes the sent command and sends a disk drive selection operation command to the control means. Next, the host device sends an access command to the A controller 4.

This access command is a command to position the head at a logical address for reading/writing data.

The logical address sent by the host device is converted into a physical address by the control means 7 and sent to the disk drive unit aK. The disk drive unit 8 is sent out by the control means 7! Positions at the address and waits for the next command. Next, the host device sends a data read operation command to the A controller 4. , A controller 4 decodes the sent command and sends a data read operation command to the control means. ! When IJ fl [1 means] receives a data read command, it reads data from the disk drive unit 8. The data read by the disk drive unit 8 is converted into the A standard data format by the tlJ# means and passed to the A controller 4. The A controller 4 sends the read data to the host device via the A interface 1.

Similarly, when a data write command is executed, from the host device to the A interface 1, from the A interface 1 to the A controller 4, from the A controller 4 to the control means 7, and from the control means F to the disk drive unit 8. Commands and data are sequentially sent to the controller 7, and the format-converted data is written to the disk drive section 8 by the control means 7.

Next, the control means 7 will be explained with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the main parts of the control means 7 according to this embodiment. fIII control means 7 is A controller 4
& B for interfacing between the 16 A controller interface conversion control circuits 10 and the B controller 5.
Controller interface conversion control circuit 11 and C
A C controller interface conversion control circuit 12 for interfacing with the controller 6, a buffer storage circuit 13 for temporarily storing read/write data, and a disk drive interface! -X
fl control circuit 15 and a control circuit 14 for controlling each controller interface, buffer storage circuit 13, and disk drive interface control circuit 15.
It is composed of and K.

The data read by the read operation command and the data written by the write operation command are f
Control circuit 1 into buffer storage circuit 13 of llJN means 7
4: Therefore, it is temporarily saved.

In a general magnetic disk device, the disk drive unit 8
If it has not been selected by another higher-level device, the control means notifies the higher-level device that it has been selected. However, if the disk drive unit 8 has already been selected by another host device, it is notified that the disk drive unit 8 cannot be selected. Buffer storage circuit 131, used for data reading/writing by other host devices even when one host device occupies the disk drive unit 8;
To improve the slow response of a magnetic disk device due to a disk drive section 8 being continuously occupied by one host device. Further, the buffer storage circuit 13 is used to synchronize data transfer speeds that differ from one host to another.

In addition to this, the control circuit 14 that performs the above control includes interface conversion control circuits 10, 11, and 12 of each controller.
Transfers commands and data to and from The received commands and data are transferred to the disk vehicle interface control circuit 15.
When sending the A commands and signals for each interface standard, the control circuit 14 converts the A commands and signals, which are different for each interface standard, into a single standard command system and signals. When sending the data received from the disk drive unit interface control circuit 15 to the interface conversion control circuits 10, 11 and 12 of each controller, the control/distribution circuit 14 converts the data into the format of each standard.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, the present invention includes an interface with a host device having a compatible interface standard, a disk device controller for each interface, and a control means for controlling each controller. By controlling the interface by providing a common disk drive section, it is possible to use a common disk drive section as a disk device compatible with each interface standard from a host device with multiple different interface standards. This has seven effects: access from the device and sharing of files.

Further, by providing a buffer storage circuit in the control means, simultaneous access to the magnetic disk device by a plurality of higher-level devices is enabled, so that the system including the higher-level devices can be operated efficiently.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the main parts of an embodiment of a magnetic disk device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the main parts of one embodiment of the control means shown in FIG. 1 according to the present invention. 1 to 3...Interfaces 4 to 6...Controller 7...Control means 8...Disk drive section 9...Magnetic disk devices 10 to 12...-Controller interface conversion/
Control circuit 13...Buffer storage circuit 14#/e control circuit 15...Disk drive unit interface control circuit

Claims (1)

[Claims] a plurality of controllers for connecting a magnetic disk drive unit to a host device and controlling the magnetic disk drive unit; a plurality of interfaces for connecting between the host device and the plurality of controllers; 1. A magnetic disk drive comprising: control means for controlling the controller in correspondence with each of a plurality of interfaces.