JPH05119920A - Disk device with sequence connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To maintain a disk device without stopping the operations of disk sub system. CONSTITUTION:A disk device 2 operated while being connected to the bus 3 of a host device 1 is equipped with a connector 4 to sequentially connect the device 2 to the bus 3 and a reset means 5 disabling a transfer means 6 for transferring the control signal of the bus 3 based on a reset signal transmitted by the host device 1 and in the case of coupling the disk device 2 and the bus 3 through the connector 4 and disconnecting the disk device 2 from the bus 3, the operation of the resetting means 5 to the transferring means 6 is stopped after disconnecting the disabled transferring means 6 from the bus 3. In the case of coupling the disk device 2 to the bus 3, power is supplied to the resetting means 5 and the transferring means 6, the reset signal is supplied to the resetting means 5 and the disabled transferring means 6 is coupled with the bus 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a disk device which operates by being connected to a bus on a host interface of a disk controller, and more particularly to connecting the disk device using a connector which is sequentially connected to the bus. Thus, the present invention relates to a disk device including a sequence connector that enables maintenance of the disk device without stopping the operation of the disk subsystem.

In recent years, computer systems have been required to process a large amount of information in a short time due to an increase in the amount of information. Therefore, there is a magnetic disk subsystem in which parallel operation is performed under the control of a magnetic disk control device in which a plurality of magnetic disk devices are connected to a bus on the same host interface.

In such a magnetic disk subsystem, when a failure occurs in some of the plurality of magnetic disk devices, a host is used to maintain the failed magnetic disk device. The process of disconnecting and reconnecting to the bus on the interface is required.

Therefore, although the power supply line, the signal line, etc. of the host interface are attached / detached to / from the power supply line, the signal line, etc. of the failed magnetic disk device, the operation of the magnetic disk subsystem is not hindered. is necessary.

[0005]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional magnetic disk subsystem, when a failed magnetic disk device occurs in a plurality of magnetic disk devices connected to a bus on the same host interface, the magnetic disk subsystem is activated. Was temporarily stopped, and the failed magnetic disk unit was being maintained.

That is, the normally failed magnetic disk drive is
Disconnect and remove the connection to the bus on the same host interface, and either connect a replacement magnetic disk device or reconnect the magnetic disk device that has been repaired, but at the time of connection and disconnection to this bus, The magnetic disk subsystem is temporarily stopped in order to affect the control signal of the host interface and cause malfunction of other magnetic disk devices.

[0007]

As described above, in the conventional magnetic disk subsystem in which a plurality of magnetic disk devices are connected to the bus on the same host interface, the magnetic disk device that has failed among the plurality of magnetic disk devices is damaged. When servicing a disk device, it is necessary to stop the operation of the magnetic disk subsystem even temporarily, and multiple magnetic disk devices stop operating. It becomes unusable.

Therefore, the advantage of using a plurality of magnetic disk devices cannot be maximized, and there is a problem that the processing efficiency of the computer system using this magnetic disk subsystem is reduced.

In view of the above problems, the present invention attaches and detaches a power line or signal line of a failed magnetic disk device to a power line or a signal line of a host interface when maintaining a failed magnetic disk device. However, it is intended to prevent the operation of the magnetic disk subsystem from being stopped by not affecting the operation of the magnetic disk subsystem.

[0010]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining the principle of the present invention. The disk device 2 operates by being connected to the bus 3 on the host interface of the host device 1.

The bus 3 on the host interface
On the other hand, a connector 4 that is sequentially coupled and a reset unit 5 that disables a transmission / reception unit 6 that transmits / receives a control signal on a host interface based on a reset signal transmitted by the host device 1 are provided.

When the disk device 2 is disconnected from the bus 3 on the host interface by connecting the disk device 2 to the bus 3 on the host interface via the connector 4, the reset means 5 is used to disconnect the disk device 2 from the bus 3 on the host interface. The disabled transmitting / receiving means 6 is the bus 3
After the disconnection from the above, the operation of disabling the reset means 5 for the transmission / reception means 6 is stopped.

When the disk device 2 is connected to the bus 3 on the host interface, the reset means 5 and
By supplying power to the transmitting / receiving means 6 and supplying the reset signal to the reset means 5, the disabled transmitting / receiving means 6 is coupled to the bus 3.

[0014]

With the above-mentioned structure, various control signals based on the host interface standard are supplied from the bus 3 to the plurality of contact sleeves arranged in a row of the connector 4 for coupling the disk device 2 to the bus 3. A contact pin to which the signal line of the transmitting / receiving means 6 is connected is inserted.

A reset signal sent from the host device 1 and a power source are supplied to the plurality of contact sleeves lined up in the row of the connector 4, and the power source line of the transmitting / receiving means 6 is connected. Contact pin,
A contact pin to which the power supply line of the reset means 5 is connected and a contact pin to which a signal line for transferring the reset signal supplied to the reset means 5 is connected are inserted.

Further, earth is supplied from the bus 3 to the plurality of contact sleeves lined up in the row of the connector 4, respectively, and the contact pins to which the earth wire of the transmitting / receiving means 6 is connected and the earth of the reset means 5 are connected. A contact pin to which the wire is connected is inserted.

When disconnecting the disk device 2 from the bus 3 on the host interface, the contact sleeve and the contact pin in the row of the connector 4 are first disconnected, and then the contact sleeve and the contact pin in the row of the connector 4 are separated. Then, the contact sleeve and the contact pin in the row of the connector 4 are finally separated.

When the disk device 2 is connected to the bus 3 on the host interface, the contact sleeve and the contact pin of the row of the connector 4 are first connected, and then the contact sleeve and the contact pin of the row of the connector 4 are connected. , And finally, the contact sleeve and the contact pin in the row of the connector 4 are joined.

Therefore, when the reset means 5 receives the reset signal, it becomes possible to disable the transmission / reception means 6, and the transmission / reception means 6 is disconnected from the bus 3 to which the control signal is transferred in the disabled state. The disk device 2 can be disconnected from the bus 3 without adversely affecting the control signal of the disk 3.

Further, the reset means 5 can be disabled when power is supplied to the transmission / reception means 6, and the transmission / reception means 6 is in the disabled state and the signal line is connected to the bus 3 to which the control signal is transferred. Therefore, the disk device 2 can be coupled to the bus 3 without adversely affecting the control signal of the bus 3.

Therefore, it is possible to maintain the failed disk device without stopping the operation of the disk subsystem.

[0022]

1 is a block diagram of a circuit showing an embodiment of the present invention. The connector 4 is a three-stage sequence connector, and various control signals are supplied from the bus 3 to the contact sleeve in the column shown in, for example, the driver / receiver 9 is connected to the signal line shown in (7) via the contact pin. The control signal to be activated is a control signal for notifying the signal lines shown in (4) to (5) that the bus between the control signal transmission / reception circuit 8 and the host device is in use, and a control for notifying transmission or reception of data. Signals etc. are supplied.

Further, the contact sleeve in the column shown in the figure is supplied with + 5V power through the contact pin to the power supply line shown in (1) and operates the reset detection circuit 7, the control signal transmission / reception circuit 8 and the driver / receiver 9. Electric current is supplied. Further, a reset signal for the reset detection circuit 7 is supplied to the signal line shown in (3), and the signal line shown in (6) constitutes a control signal return circuit.

Then, the power source line shown in (9) is supplied with a + 12V motor power source and is supplied to the motor drive system 10. In addition, ground is supplied to each contact sleeve in the row shown in, and it passes through each power line shown in (2), (8), and (10),
The reset detection circuit 7, the control signal transmission / reception circuit 8, the driver / receiver 9, and a current return circuit for operating the motor drive system 10 are configured.

The maintenance of the disk device is performed when the host device detects an abnormality of the disk device. For example, when displaying an error due to the detection of the disk device abnormality, the host device detects the abnormality of the disk device. A reset signal is sent to.

Therefore, the signal line of the column of the connector 4 is shown.
The reset signal is supplied to the contact sleeve of the contact pin to which (3) is connected, and this reset signal is supplied to the reset detection circuit 7 via the signal line (3). Therefore, the reset detection circuit 7 operates. The control signal transmitting / receiving circuit 8 and the driver / receiver 9 are disabled.

At the same time, the reset detection circuit 7 stops the operation of the motor drive system 10 and stops the rotating motor. When the maintenance personnel pulls out the disk device in which the abnormality is detected, the contact pins that connect the signal lines (4) to (5) and (7) to the bus 3 separate from the contact sleeve in the row indicated by the connector 4, and then , Signal lines (3) and (6) and power lines
The contact pins that connect (1) and (9) to bus 3 separate from the contact sleeve in the row of connector 4 and then connect power lines (2), (8) and (10) to bus 3. The contact pins to be separated from the contact sleeves of the row of the connector 4 shown by.

Therefore, after the signal lines (4) to (5) and (7) are separated from the bus 3 to which the control signal is supplied, the supply of the reset signal and the power supply of the reset detection circuit 7 is stopped and the control is simultaneously performed. Since the power supply to the signal transmission / reception circuit 8, the driver / receiver 9 and the motor drive system 10 is stopped, the control signal transmission / reception circuit 8 and the driver / receiver 9 are connected to the signal lines (4) to (5).
(7) remains in the disabled state until it is separated from the bus 3, and the control signal of the bus 3 is not adversely affected even if the disk device is pulled out.

When the maintenance personnel inserts the disk device again, the contact pins connecting the power lines (2), (8) and (10) to the bus 3 are replaced with the contact sleeves shown in the row of the connector 4. Combined, then signal lines (3) and (6) and power lines
The contact pins connecting (1) and (9) with the bus 3 are connected with the contact sleeves in the row of connector 4, and then the signal lines (4) to (5) and (7) are connected with the bus 3. The connecting contact pins mate with the contact sleeves in the row of the connector 4.

Therefore, the supply of the reset signal and the power supply to the reset detection circuit 7 is started, and at the same time, the power supply of the control signal transmission / reception circuit 8, the driver / receiver 9 and the motor drive system 10 is started. The control signal transmission / reception circuit 8 and the driver / receiver 9 can be disabled.

Since the control signal transmission / reception circuit 8 and the driver / receiver 9 maintain the disabled state, the signal lines (4) to (5) and (7) are coupled to the bus 3.
Even if the disk device is reinserted, the control signal of the bus 3 will not be adversely affected.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an example of a housing for housing the magnetic disk device. The magnetic disk device 11 including the connector 15 is attached inside the housing 12 to which the sequence connector 13 is attached, and the sequence connector 13 and the connector 15 are connected by a cable 14.

The connector 15 is, for example, a SCSI (Small
When it is connected to a higher-level device by a computer system interface), it is impossible to use the sequence connector such as the connector 4, so the sequence connector 13 such as the connector 4 is used and the connection destination is converted by the cable 14. It was done.

The sequence connector 13 is a four-stage sequence connector. When the connectors are combined, the ground is first connected, then the power source is connected, then the reset signal is connected, and finally the control is performed. The signals are configured to be connected.

Therefore, when the housing 12 shown in FIG. 3 is pulled out, the control signal line is disconnected first, the reset signal is disconnected next, the power supply is disconnected next, and finally the ground is disconnected.

In this embodiment, the sequence connector having three and four stages has been described, but the control signal transmitting / receiving circuit 8 and the driver / receiver 9 are connected to the control signal line of the bus without adversely affecting the control signal. Needless to say, any structure may be used as long as it can be connected or disconnected in the disabled state.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to disconnect and rejoin a failed magnetic disk device from the magnetic disk subsystem without adversely affecting the operation of the magnetic disk subsystem. Since it is possible, maintenance can be performed without stopping the operation of the magnetic disk subsystem.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a circuit showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a housing that houses a magnetic disk device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 host device 2 disk device 3 bus 4, 15 connector 5 resetting means 6 transmitting / receiving means 7 reset detection circuit 8 control signal transmitting / receiving circuit 9 driver / receiver 10 motor drive system 11 magnetic disk device 12 case 13 sequence connector 14 cable

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A disk device (2) which operates by being connected to a bus (3) on a host interface of a host device (1)
In the above, in the bus (3) on the host interface, a connector (4) that is sequentially coupled, and a transmitting and receiving means for transmitting and receiving a control signal on the host interface based on a reset signal transmitted by the host device (1). Reset means (5) for disabling (6), and the disk device through the connector (4)
(2) is coupled to the bus (3) on the host interface, so that the disk device (2) is connected to the bus on the host interface.
When disconnecting from (3), the reset means (6) disabled by the reset means (5) is disconnected from the bus (3), and then the reset means (5) to the transmit / receive means (6). The operation of disabling the disk device (2) is stopped, and the disk device (2)
When coupled to (3), the reset means (5) and the transmitting / receiving means (6) are supplied with power and the reset means is
A disk device provided with a sequence connector, characterized in that by supplying the reset signal to (5), the disabled transmitting / receiving means (6) is coupled to the bus (3).