JPH04307483A - Floppy disk device fault prevention system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To limit damage inside a floppy disk medium to a part which is not used as a data area and to prevent the destruction of data even when dust accidently enters inside the floppy disk device by automatically performing a retracting processing when the floppy disk medium is taken out of the floppy disk device. CONSTITUTION:A floppy disk medium mounting/demounting monitoring mechanism 1 and a floppy disk input/output control mechanism 2 are provided, and when the floppy disk medium is taken out of a floppy disk device 5, and the retracting processing which seeks to a position at the innermost circumference of the floppy disk medium which is equivalent to an unused area as the data area is automatically performed.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for preventing failures in floppy disk drives.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional floppy disk device failure prevention method is a failure prevention method when the floppy disk device itself and the floppy disk medium itself are controlled by the so-called hardware itself.

0003

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] The floppy disk medium and the read/write head of the floppy disk device are in constant contact from the moment the floppy disk medium is inserted until the medium is removed, except when the read/write head is moving. . Therefore, if you insert a floppy disk with dust particles attached to the read/write head, the dust particles present on the read/write head at that moment will result in damage to the contact surface between the floppy disk medium and the read/write head. . Therefore, some method is needed to prevent damage to the floppy disk medium by dust particles or data destruction due to damage.

Conventional failure prevention methods prevent or prevent dust particles from adhering to the floppy disk read/write head when the floppy disk medium is removed from the device; There is only a method for preventing damage to the floppy disk medium caused by the so-called hardware itself, such as preventing dust particles from entering the disk device.

[0005] However, if these failure prevention methods by the hardware itself are not enough, dust particles that accidentally enter the floppy disk device may damage any part of the floppy disk medium, resulting in the destruction of important data. It is possible that

An object of the present invention is to prevent data destruction by fixing a damaged part of a floppy disk medium in the event that a lump of dust accidentally enters a floppy disk device.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The floppy disk device failure prevention system of the present invention includes a monitoring mechanism for monitoring attachment/detachment of a floppy disk medium, and a mechanism for controlling input/output of the floppy disk. The device is configured to perform a retraction process when the device is removed from the device.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, one embodiment of the present invention is a failure prevention method when controlling a floppy disk device, which has a floppy disk medium attachment/detachment monitoring mechanism 1 and a floppy disk input/output control mechanism 2. At times, the floppy disk is configured to automatically perform a retract process of seeking to a position corresponding to an unused area on the innermost periphery of the floppy disk medium as a data area.

The floppy disk medium attachment/detachment monitoring mechanism 1 checks the attachment/detachment status of the floppy disk medium by referring to the floppy disk device state transition occurrence flag 3 in the memory, and when the floppy disk medium is removed, Perform retract processing. The floppy disk input/output control mechanism 2 carries out floppy disk access requests from the floppy disk medium attachment/detachment monitoring mechanism 1 or the input/output control program 4 to the floppy disk device 5, and also controls state transitions associated with attachment/detachment of floppy disk media. The occurrence information is stored in the floppy disk device state transition occurrence flag 3.

Referring to FIG. 2, the processing in the floppy disk medium attachment/detachment monitoring mechanism 1 includes a floppy disk device state transition check step 21, a floppy disk medium presence/absence check step 22, a retract processing execution step 23, and an external access request generation step. It consists of a check step 24 and an external access request implementation step 25.

Referring to FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b), the processing in the floppy disk input/output control mechanism 2 consists of a step 31 of issuing a command to the floppy disk device, and a step 32 of confirming the completion of the issued command. The interrupt controller includes an issuing section, an interrupt factor analysis step 33, a command completion status receiving step 34, and a state transition occurrence information setting step 35.

Next, a failure prevention method when controlling the floppy disk device of this embodiment configured as described above will be explained.

The floppy disk medium attachment/detachment monitoring mechanism 1 first checks whether a state transition has occurred due to the attachment/detachment of a floppy disk medium to the floppy disk device using the floppy disk device state transition occurrence flag 3 stored in the memory (step 21). The floppy disk device state transition occurrence flag 3 is set when a floppy disk medium is attached or removed in the floppy disk input/output control mechanism 2, which will be described later.

At the time of this check, if the floppy disk device state transition occurrence flag 3 is not set, it is determined that no state transition has occurred, and the process proceeds to external access request generation check step 24.

On the other hand, if the floppy disk device state transition occurrence flag 3 is set, it is determined that a state transition has occurred, and it is determined whether this state transition is due to insertion or removal of the floppy disk medium. The installation status of the floppy disk medium is checked (step 22). If a floppy disk medium is installed, no particular processing is performed and the process moves to the next external access request generation check step 24.

If the result of checking the floppy disk medium loading status is that no medium is loaded, it can be determined that the floppy disk medium has been removed at this stage. Therefore, in this case, the floppy disk input/output control mechanism 2 is requested to execute a retract command, and retract processing is executed (step 23).

Next, the presence or absence of a floppy disk device access request from the input/output control program 4 is checked (
In step 24), if there is an access request, control is passed to the floppy disk input/output control mechanism 2 to carry out processing in accordance with this request (step 25).

In the floppy disk input/output control mechanism 2, first, the command issuing unit issues a command to the floppy disk device in accordance with the access request from the floppy disk medium attachment/detachment monitoring mechanism 1 or the input/output control program 4 (step 31). ). After issuing the command,
It waits for the interrupt processing to end (step 32), and returns control to the floppy disk medium attachment/detachment monitoring mechanism 1 when the interrupt control is completed.

The interrupt control unit determines whether the currently generated interrupt is due to the end of a command or the occurrence of a state transition due to the attachment or detachment of a floppy disk medium (step 33). In the case of an interrupt due to the end of a command, the status according to the issued command is received (step 34), and the interrupt processing is ended.

On the other hand, in the case of an interrupt due to the occurrence of a state transition, information indicating that a state transition has occurred is set in the floppy disk device state transition flag 3 on the memory (step 3).
5) End the interrupt processing.

[0022]

As explained above, the present invention is capable of automatically retracting a floppy disk medium when it is removed from a floppy disk device, thereby preventing dust particles from being accidentally removed from the floppy disk. Even if the floppy disk medium gets mixed into the device, the damage to the floppy disk medium is limited to the portion not used as a data area, thereby preventing data destruction.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a floppy disk device failure prevention system that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing processing in a floppy disk medium attachment/detachment monitoring mechanism.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing processing in a floppy disk input/output control mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Floppy disk medium attachment/detachment monitoring mechanism 2
Floppy disk input/output control mechanism 3 Floppy disk device state transition occurrence flag 4 I/O control program 5 Floppy disk device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An information processing system that uses a floppy disk device as an external auxiliary storage device, which includes a monitoring mechanism for monitoring attachment/detachment of a floppy disk medium, and a mechanism for controlling input/output of the floppy disk, wherein the floppy disk medium is a floppy disk device. A floppy disk drive failure prevention method characterized by performing retract processing when the disk is removed from the disk drive.