JPH04152421A - Disk filing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform a substitute processing at a high speed by reading the data out of the substitute area of a disk medium in an operating state, storing the read data into a semiconductor memory, and carrying out the substitute processing with the use of the data on the substitute area. CONSTITUTION:A controller 101 controls a semiconductor memory 102 and a disk device 103 and starts the operation of the device 103. Then the substitute information indicating the relation between a defective area and its substitute area is read out of the device 13. Then the substitute data backed up in the substitute area is read out based on the substitute information and written into a memory 102. When a data read instruction is received from a host computer, the data is read out of the device 103 and the substitute area if included in the read data is read out of the memory 102. Therefore no seeking operation is required even if the substitute area is distant from the area of the device 103 which reads out the data. Thus the substitute processing is carried out at a high speed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a disk file device, and particularly to a disk file device that can perform alternative processing for defective areas of the disk file device at high speed.

[Prior Art] Disk media have defective areas where reading and writing cannot be performed correctly due to defects during manufacturing or failures during operation. In conventional disk file devices, alternative areas are provided on the disk medium in order to deal with the defective areas. And to use this alternative area,
It was done as follows. That is, defective areas are checked when formatting a disk or inputting/outputting data. At this time, when a defective area is detected, alternative information stored on the disk medium is read, an empty alternative area is searched for, and allocated in place of the defective area. Thereafter, instead of accessing the defective area, data is input/output to the alternative area.

Here, the alternative information indicates the correspondence between the defective area number and the alternative area number.

However, in the above method, it is necessary to read the replacement information from the disk every time replacement processing is performed.

As one means to solve this problem,
No. 370 "Disk Control Device" is known.

This is to shorten the time required to read out the replacement information by reading out the replacement information of the disk device into the semiconductor memory in advance after power is applied to the disk device, thereby making it possible to quickly perform replacement processing.

[Problem B to be Solved by the Invention] In the conventional disk file device described above, the data of the alternative sector itself is read from the disk medium, so if the alternative sector is not on the same track, a seek operation occurs, resulting in a high-speed alternative sector. The disadvantage is that it cannot be processed.

- An object of the present invention is to provide a disk file device that can eliminate these drawbacks and perform alternative processing at high speed by shortening the time required to read from an alternative area.

[Means to solve the problem]

A first aspect of the present invention is a disk file device having a function of replacing a defective area on a disk medium with an alternative area, which includes a semiconductor memory for storing data, and the data stored in the alternative area on the disk medium is It is characterized in that it is read out and stored in the semiconductor memory during operation, and that replacement processing is performed using data in the replacement area stored in the semiconductor memory.

A second invention is a disk file device having a function of replacing a defective area on a disk medium with a substitute area, which has a non-volatile memory that stores data and does not erase the data even when the power is turned off, and the non-volatile The method is characterized in that the alternative area is allocated on the memory and alternative processing is performed.

[Effect]

In the first invention, a disk file device reads data written in an alternative area on a disk medium during operation and stores it in a semiconductor memory built into the disk file device. Thereafter, when a command to read data is issued to the disk file device and alternative processing is required, the data in the alternative area is read from the semiconductor memory rather than from the disk medium. Since the speed of reading from a semiconductor memory is sufficiently faster than the speed of reading from a disk medium, high-speed alternative processing is possible.

Furthermore, in the second invention, the above alternative area is allocated on the nonvolatile memory built into the disk file device. In the first invention, when writing, it is necessary to write to both the semiconductor memory and the disk medium, but in the second invention, it is only necessary to write to the nonvolatile memory, and alternative data can also be written in an extremely short time. Become.

〔Example〕

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

FIG. 1 is a device block diagram showing an embodiment of the first invention.

This disk file device 10 includes a control device 101,
It is composed of a semiconductor memory 102 and a disk device 103.

The semiconductor memo January 02 is a semiconductor memory that can read and write faster than the disk device 103, and stores data written in an alternative area on the disk medium.

The disk device 103 is a rewritable disk device such as a magnetic disk device or a magneto-optical disk device and has an alternative area.

The control device 101 uses semiconductor memo January 02. When the disk device 103 is controlled and the operation of the disk device is started, alternative information indicating the correspondence between the defective area and the alternative area is read from the disk device. Next, based on the read substitute information, the substitute data hacked up in the substitute area of the information is read and written in the semiconductor memo January 02. When receiving a data read command from the host computer, the data is read from the disk device 103, and if the read data includes an alternative area, the data in the alternative area is transferred to the disk device 103.
Instead, read from Semiconductor Memo January 02. Thereby, even if the alternative area is far from the area of the disk device 103 from which data is read, there is no need for a seek operation.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of alternative information used in the embodiment of FIG. 1 and the embodiment of FIG. 2, which will be described later. A defective area number and an alternative area number are stored in correspondence with each other in the disk device. That is, in the alternative information 51, defective area No. 31 and alternative area No. 40 correspond,
In the alternative information 52, the defective area No. 33 corresponds to the alternative area 41, and in the alternative information 53, the defective area No. 33 corresponds to the alternative area 41.
35 and the alternative area 43 correspond to each other. Alternative information is
There are as many defective areas as there are, but in Fig. 3, alternative information 51
Only 53 are shown.

Next, the operation in the embodiment of the first invention will be explained with reference to FIG. 3 as well. When the operation of the disk file device 10 is started, the control device 101 controls the disk device 102.
Alternative information 51 (defective area No., 31° Alternative area No., 40
) is read out. Next, based on the alternative information 5I, the alternative data backed up in the alternative area No. 40 is read and written into the semiconductor memory 102.

When the control device 101 receives a data read command from the host computer and the storage area for the read data read from the disk device 103 includes an alternative area, the control device 101 stores the data in the alternative area from the semiconductor rather than from the disk medium. Read from memory 102. In this way, this disk file device can perform alternative processing at high speed without performing a seek operation even when the alternative area is far from the read data storage area of the disk device.

FIG. 2 is a device block diagram showing an embodiment of the second invention.

This disk file device 20 includes a control device 201,
It is composed of a nonvolatile memory 202 and a disk device 203. Control device 201. The functions of the disk device 203 are the same as those of the control device 101 of the first invention (FIG. 1). It is almost the same as the disk device 102. The feature is that the memory part is changed from the semiconductor memory 102 to a non-volatile memory IJ 202.

This non-volatile memory 202 consists of a memory such as an EEFROM which is electrically readable and writable and whose stored contents are not lost even when a power supply voltage is not applied to the memory. Note that it is also possible to configure a pseudo nonvolatile memory by combining a normal volatile semiconductor memory and a backup power source. Further, the disk device 203 can be the same as the disk device 103, but it is also possible to use a device that does not have an alternative area.

Next, the operation in the embodiment of the second invention will be explained with reference also to FIG. First, when a read/write request is issued from the host computer to the control device 201,
The control device 201 reads out the alternative information 52 (defective area number, 33; alternative area number, 41) representing the correspondence between the defective area and the alternative area, and investigates whether there is a defective area in the storage area of the data requested for reading or writing. do. Here, the alternative information 52 may be stored on a disk medium as before, but faster operation is possible if it is stored on a non-volatile memory. As a result of the investigation of the defective area, the control device 20
1, if the data storage area does not include a defective area, all data is read from and written to the disk medium.

On the other hand, data other than the defective area is read from and written to the disk medium, and data in alternative area No. 41 corresponding to defective area No. 33 is read from and written to the nonvolatile memory 202. By doing this, there is no need to write to the alternative area on the disk medium, and high-speed alternative processing becomes possible.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, in the first invention, data stored in the alternative area on the disk medium is read out during operation and stored in the built-in semiconductor memory. This has the effect of enabling high-speed alternative processing by simply reading it out from the semiconductor memory. Especially if the alternate area is on a different track from the bad area.
In conventional schemes, seek operations occur. However, in the present invention, the time required for the seek operation can be saved, so the effect is significant.

In addition, in the second invention, since the alternative area is allocated on the non-volatile memory built into the disk file device, in addition to the effect of the first invention, writing to the alternative area is also possible with respect to the non-volatile memory. This has the effect of enabling high-speed alternative processing. Furthermore, since the trouble of reading during operation as in the first invention can be omitted, the device can be used immediately after energization, which has the effect of significantly improving usability.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a device block diagram representing an embodiment of the first invention, FIG. 2 is a device block diagram representing an embodiment of the second invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining alternative information used in the embodiment. 10, 20... Disk file devices 101, 2 (
H...Control device 102...Semiconductor memory 103, 203...Disk device 202...Nonvolatile memory

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A disk file device that has a function of replacing a defective area on a disk medium with an alternative area, which has a semiconductor memory for storing data, and reads the data stored in the alternative area on the disk medium during operation. A disk file device characterized in that data is stored in the semiconductor memory, and alternative processing is performed using data in an alternative area stored in the semiconductor memory. (2) A disk file device having a function of replacing a defective area on a disk medium with an alternative area, which has a non-volatile memory that stores data and does not erase the data even when the power is turned off, A disk file device that allocates the alternative area and performs alternative processing.