JP4463771B2 - Storage device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a storage apparatus, and more particularly to protection of a storage apparatus that detects vibrations and shocks and appropriately switches the operation mode of a disk or storage apparatus upon detection.

  In recent years, storage devices have been handling huge amounts of data due to their large capacities, and have to operate continuously for 24 hours and 365 days. Therefore, in any case, data loss or machine down is not allowed. However, in the present situation where data protection is lacking due to damage to the storage device due to the impact of the disk used for a long time or damage to the storage device due to earthquake etc., it can be said that it is sufficient from the viewpoint of high quality and data protection for a long time Absent.

  For this reason, a disk array device that includes a vibration detection sensor and stops an access operation to a magnetic disk when vibration is detected has been disclosed (see Patent Document 1). Further, there is disclosed a rotary storage device that reduces data destruction and head crash by adjusting the timing of unloading the head when sensing vibration (see Patent Document 2). Furthermore, when vibration is detected, access to the data storage device is stopped, data is temporarily stored in a buffer memory (auxiliary storage device) composed of static storage elements, and the data is used to store a large capacity such as a hard disk. The contents of the data storage device (main storage device) have been restored (see Patent Document 3).

JP-A-11-306748 JP 2001-307413 A JP-A 64-14765

  However, if access to a data storage device that is required to operate continuously for 24 hours and 365 days is stopped each time an impact or vibration is detected, it will hinder data protection and management operations. There was a problem. However, if a large-capacity storage device such as a hard disk that has a rotating mechanism that is weak against shock and vibration is given a shock and vibration that exceeds the disk guarantee, it may immediately fail due to a head crash or the like, or it may be operating normally at first. However, there may occur a case where errors gradually occur thereafter and eventually lead to failure.

  Therefore, in view of the above-described problems, the object of the present invention is to subdivide vibration states due to earthquakes and the like by providing vibration sensing means, and to control the discharge of data from the cache as appropriate, thereby achieving early maintenance of operational data. The purpose is to enable continuous operation in mild vibration conditions within the specification. In this case, the discharge means that the so-called dirty data on the cache is written back to the hard disk.

  Another object of the present invention is to prohibit access to a hard disk (main storage device) or the like when a shock or vibration exceeding a safety standard such as a hard disk is detected (severe shock or vibration state). It is an object of the present invention to temporarily save data to an auxiliary storage device consisting of the above, and to recover and update data in the main storage device later using the saved data.

  By appropriately combining these, it is possible to provide a storage apparatus in which high-quality data protection management is performed as the entire apparatus.

According to the present invention, in a storage apparatus comprising a main storage device having a disk rotation mechanism, disk cache means, vibration / impact sensing means, and a disk controller, the vibration / impact sensing means is within an operation specified value. Upon sensing the vibration of the disk controller, the classified based on the magnitude of vibration, the first classification the vibration than other classification is applied is small write-back method, than the first classification Based on the second classification in which the vibration is large and the write-through method is applied, and the third classification in which the vibration is larger than the second classification and the write-back method is applied , the disk cache means is used. A storage apparatus to which either the write back method or the write through method is applied is provided.

  According to the invention, the storage device further includes a battery and a backup auxiliary storage device. When the vibration / shock sensing means senses a vibration exceeding an operation specified value, the disk controller The access to the main storage device is stopped and the data is saved to the auxiliary storage device operated by the battery. When the access to the main storage device is resumed, the saved data from the auxiliary storage device is transferred, and the main memory is transferred. A storage device for recovering or updating device data is provided.

  When the vibration / shock sensing means senses an impact exceeding a specified value during non-operation, an alarm is displayed or notified to that effect and the main storage device is requested to be replaced.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to subdivide light vibration states and apply a cache method according to each classification, thereby enabling early maintenance of operation data and high-quality continuous operation of the storage apparatus.

  In addition, if vibration exceeding the safety standards of hard disks or the like is detected during operation (severe vibration state), access to the hard disk (main storage device) etc. is prohibited and access to auxiliary storage devices (non-volatile memory, etc.) Data can be temporarily saved, and the saved data can be used later to recover and update data in the main storage device.

  By appropriately combining these, a high-quality data protection management is improved as a whole, and a storage device capable of continuous operation is provided.

FIG. 1 shows a basic configuration of a storage apparatus according to the present invention.
In FIG. 1, a host computer 1 accesses a storage device 2 such as a hard disk via an interface 21. The storage device 2 of the present application includes a vibration / impact sensor 26 that senses shock and vibration, and the controller (CONT) 22 compares the sensed vibration / shock with the device standard to execute a corresponding processing operation. . The storage body (STORE) is a main storage device composed of a hard disk or the like, and is accessed from the host 1 via a cache memory (Chach) 23.

  The battery (BAT) 24 supplies power to the cache memory 23, the sensor 26, the controller 22, and the auxiliary storage device 3 (to be described later) even when the main power of the storage device 2 is turned off, and guarantees their operation. The auxiliary storage device 3 is composed of a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory, for example, and functions as a small-capacity backup memory 3 when sensing vibrations or shocks exceeding the standard specification. The controller 22 loads the backup data from the auxiliary storage device 3 when the main power is turned on, and tries to recover or update the data in the main storage device 25.

FIG. 2 shows an overview of the storage apparatus and its data protection processing according to the present invention.
In the present invention, two types of sensors for sensing vibration / impact are attached to the storage apparatus 2 to improve the quality of the storage apparatus 2 and to protect data. In FIG. 2, when the main power supply (not shown) of the storage apparatus 2 is turned off (when no power is supplied), only the backup power supply (BAT) 24 is effective, and the impact measurement function during transportation is enabled (S01 and 03).

  As shown in FIG. 6, the impact measurement function during transportation (during non-energization) collects battery-driven impact information (impact value and impact date) for the past six months as LOG information, as shown in FIG. save. Then, when the main power supply of the storage apparatus 2 is turned on, alarm display or notification is performed for LOG information exceeding the standard value (S21 and 22). As a result, it is possible to take early measures such as replacement of all defective disks by maintenance workers.

  In addition, the vibration measurement function (S02) during operation (energization) in FIG. 2 subdivides the vibration state due to an earthquake or the like in operation according to the present invention, and appropriately controls the data discharge from the hard disk cache according to each classification. is doing. As a result, early maintenance of in-operation data is possible, and continuous operation in a light vibration state is possible.

  Here, the write-back function and the write-through function of the cache function are appropriately switched according to the mild vibration state. FIG. 3 schematically shows the write back function and the write through function. In the write back function (WB) shown in FIG. 3A, when the host 1 writes data to be stored in the cache memory 23, a normal end is returned from the memory at that time. When the data stored in the cache memory is accumulated to some extent, it is written (discharged) to the disk. This eliminates the need for the host 1 to wait for the seek time of the head, speeds up access to the storage 25, reduces the frequency of access to the storage 25, and reduces the possibility of head crashes during vibration detection. The In normal storage operation, a write back function (WB) is used.

  On the other hand, in the write-through function (WT) shown in FIG. 3B, when the host 1 writes data to be stored in the cache memory 23, the data is normal when the data is written (discharged) in the storage 25. End is returned. For this reason, although the discharge speed of the data to be stored increases, on the other hand, the access speed to the storage 25 by the host 1 decreases and the access frequency to the storage 25 increases. Thus, write-through is a method suitable for discharging data at high speed.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a vibration measuring function according to the present invention. FIG. 5 shows an example of the environmental specifications of the storage apparatus.
In FIG. 4, when the vibration at the time of operation is within the environmental specification range (FIG. 5) (slight vibration), the write back and the write through which are cache functions are appropriately switched. FIG. 7 shows an example of processing when the vibration is outside the environmental specification range (S14) (severe vibration).

  In FIG. 4, storage vibration of 1.0 G or less within the standard is classified into a plurality of vibration states A to C, and a cache method (WB or WT) suitable for each vibration state is applied. As a result, data in operation is maintained at an early stage, and continuous operation is possible in a light vibration state where the vibration is within the standard.

  For severe vibration state C where the vibration exceeds the standard, as shown in FIG. 7, access to the storage 25 is prohibited (system main power is turned off and stopped), and data to be stored during that time is auxiliary. The information is temporarily saved in the storage device 3 (S31). Thereafter, when the main power supply of the main storage device 25 is turned on, the controller 22 transfers the saved data from the auxiliary storage device 3 to the main storage device 25, and tries to recover / update the saved data (S32 and 33). On the other hand, when data cannot be recovered due to a head crash or the like due to severe vibration state C, an alarm display or notification to that effect is made to prompt disk replacement or the like (S34 and 35).

Referring back to FIG. 4, the light vibration state A (0 < A <0.3G) (S11) is a vibration state that hardly affects the operation operation of the storage apparatus. (WB) applies. In the next mild vibration state B (0.3 < B <0.7G) (S12), the write-through method (WT) is applied. This is because the vibration state B is within a writable range of the hard disk, so after changing to the write-through method, so-called dirty data does not increase beyond the time of change, and already existing dirty data is so-called It will gradually decrease due to a cache hit.

Furthermore, the next mild vibration state C (0.7 < C <1.0G) is adjacent to the severe vibration state (C or more) (S13), and the retry function frequently occurs, which is the worst case. Since a head crash may occur, a write back method (WB) giving priority to reducing the number of accesses to the hard disk is applied. Finally, when vibration exceeding the environmental standard value is detected (S14), the system of the storage device is stopped (PowerOFF) because it is no longer in the guaranteed operating range, and the data is saved in the auxiliary storage device 3 as described above. (S31 in FIG. 7).

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to subdivide the mild vibration state and apply the cache method according to each classification, thereby enabling early maintenance of operation data, and safe continuous operation in the light vibration state of the storage apparatus. Operation becomes possible.

  In addition, if vibration exceeding the safety standards of hard disks, etc. is detected during operation (severe vibration state), access to the hard disk (main storage device) etc. is prohibited and data is temporarily saved to the auxiliary storage device Then, data recovery / update of the main storage device can be achieved later using the saved data.

  By appropriately combining these, it is possible to provide a storage apparatus with high quality and improved data protection management as a whole.

1 is a diagram showing a basic configuration of a storage apparatus according to the present invention. It is the figure which showed the outline | summary of the data protection process of the storage apparatus by this invention. It is the figure which showed the write back function and the write through function schematically. It is the figure which showed an example of the vibration measurement function by this invention. It is the figure which showed an example of the environmental specification of a storage apparatus. It is the figure which showed an example of the impact measurement function by this invention. It is the figure shown about the process example in the case of a severe vibration.

Explanation of symbols

1 Host 2 Storage Device 3 Auxiliary Storage Device 21 Interface 22 Controller 23 Cache Memory 24 Battery 25 Main Storage Device 26 Vibration or Impact Sensor

Claims (4)

A main storage device having a disk rotation mechanism;
Disk cache means;
Vibration / impact sensing means;
A disk controller;
In a storage device comprising
When the vibration / impact detecting means for sensing the vibrations within operational prescribed value, the disk controller has been classified based on the magnitude of the vibration,
A first classification in which the vibration is smaller than other classifications and a light-back method is applied;
A second classification in which the vibration is larger than the first classification and a light-through method is applied;
A third classification in which the vibration is larger than that of the second classification and a light back method is applied;
A storage device which is characterized by, that is characterized by applying one of the disk cache means have you to be write-back method and a write-through method based on. The vibration / the impact sensing means to sense vibrations exceeding the operational specified value, the storage device according to claim 1, wherein the disk controller is characterized and Turkey to stop access to the main storage device. Further, the storage device
Battery,
An auxiliary storage device for backup;
Comprising
When the vibration sensing means to sense vibrations exceeding the operational prescribed value, said disk controller saves the data to the auxiliary memory device operating in the battery to stop access to the main memory, the main memory device 3. The storage apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the access to the storage is resumed, the saved data from the auxiliary storage device is transferred to recover or update the data in the main storage device. When the vibration / impact detecting means detects an impact exceeding a predetermined value at the time of non-operation, one of the claim 1-3, characterized in that to request the replacement of that fact alarm display or notification to the main storage device Or the storage device according to item 1 .

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