JPH0578109B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] When allocating a replacement area to a recording medium section with a defect occurring in the recording medium of a storage device, the state of the defective recording medium section is checked and it is determined whether a replacement area has already been allocated. If so, the already allocated replacement area is registered in the history information as the actually defective recording medium section instead of the defective recording medium section. As a result, all the positional information of the recording medium portion in which the defect actually exists can be accurately recorded, and maintenance of the recording medium can be performed more reliably.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a method for recording positional information of a defective recording medium part that occurs in a recording medium of a storage device such as a magnetic disk device, and in particular, when recording positional information of a defective recording medium part that occurs in a recording medium after manufacturing the storage device. The present invention relates to a suitable recording medium defect position information recording method.

[Conventional technology]

In large-capacity storage devices that use magnetic recording technology, such as magnetic disk drives, defects occur in areas where information cannot be recorded correctly on the recording medium surface due to errors or failures during the manufacturing process, or changes over time during use. recording medium section) occurs.

In order to avoid medium defects caused by the presence of such a defective recording medium section, a defect replacement process, that is, alternate allocation of a normal recording medium section to a defective recording medium section, is performed to eliminate the defect during normal read and write processing. Processing is performed which functions to automatically access said normal media section when a media section is designated.

Next, referring to FIG. 6, the defect replacement process and the defective medium position information recording process will be explained.

In FIG. 6, 30 schematically shows the entire storage area of the storage device. 31 is a primary area in which data is stored in sector units as illustrated by a and b. Reference numeral 32 denotes a replacement area, in which a replacement sector for a sector in which a defect has occurred is arranged. 33
is a primary defect list, which is an area in which position information of sectors with defects detected during the manufacturing process of the storage device is registered. 34 is a secondary defect list, which is an area in which location information of defective sectors detected during use, that is, after connection to the host system, is registered.

The sector format is as shown in Figure 5.
It is formed by an identification (ID) part in which sector identification information and alternate allocation processing information to be described later are set, a data part in which data is stored, and gaps (G ₁ to _{G 3} ) indicating the divisions between each part.

The defective recording medium portion that occurs within the primary area 31 is
These can be divided into those that occur during the manufacturing process and those that occur during use after manufacturing. In any case, it is desirable to make the unit of replacement allocation during unnecessary replacement processing performed on a defective recording medium as small as possible, so in fixed-length sector storage devices, replacement allocation processing is generally performed in sector units. .

Currently, during the manufacturing process of storage devices, the primary area 31
If a defect is detected in a sector within, for example, sector b, a replacement allocation process is performed within the manufacturing process. That is, a replacement allocation process is performed in which an unused sector b' within the replacement area 32 is searched for and allocated as a replacement for the defective sector b. At the same time, in the ID part of sector b,
Alternative allocation processing information indicating whether or not alternate allocation is to be performed in sector b, position information of alternate sector b', etc. is set. Furthermore, the position information of the defective sector b is registered in the data area B in the primary defect list 33.

When a defect is detected in a sector in the primary area, for example, sector a, while the storage device is in use, a host system (not shown) instructs a control device (not shown) to allocate sector a. The control device searches for an unused sector a′ in the replacement area 32,
Alternative allocation processing is performed to allocate as a substitute for defective sector a. At the same time, the ID part of sector a indicates that sector a has alternate allocation and that the alternate sector
Alternate allocation processing information indicating the position information of a', etc. is set. Furthermore, the location information of defective sector a is
It is stored in data area A in the secondary defect list 34.

By performing the above defective replacement processing, defective sectors a and b are linked to normal replacement sectors a' and b', and when defective sectors a and sector b are specified in normal read and write processing, Alternate sectors a' and sector b' are automatically accessed. Therefore, the host system does not need to be aware of the existence of alternate sectors a' and sectors b'.

Furthermore, from the position information registered in the primary defective list 33 and the secondary defective list 34, history information of defective sectors, such as the location of defective sectors and whether they occurred during the manufacturing process or during use, is obtained. This information can be used during reinitialization.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

As described above, in the conventional recording medium defect location information recording system, when a defect occurs in a sector in the primary area of a storage device, defective replacement processing is performed to allocate a replacement sector to the defective sector. As a result, the host system to which the storage device is connected can automatically read and write to the alternate sector by accessing the sector in the primary area without being aware of the existence of the alternate sector.

However, in the past, even if a defect occurred in a replacement sector, similar defective replacement processing was performed, resulting in the following problems.

Now, the replacement sector of the replacement area part 32 in FIG.
If b′ is defective, the host system is accessing sector b, so it is actually
Even though a defect has occurred in sector b', it appears to the host system that a defect has occurred in sector b. Therefore, the host system instructs a replacement allocation process for sector b, thereby allocating a new sector b'' in the replacement area section 32 as a replacement sector. location information B of defective sector B
is registered. Therefore, the position information B' of the replacement sector b' where the defect actually occurred is not shown in the secondary defect list 34.
will not be registered.

In this way, in the conventional method, in order to register the positional information of the sector designated as defective by the host system in the secondary defective list 34, if a replacement allocation instruction is given again to sector b, which has already been allocated for replacement, However, there was a problem in that the position information of the already allocated replacement sector b' in which a defect actually occurred was not correctly registered in the secondary defect list 34.

Furthermore, if the location information of the already allocated replacement sector where the defect has occurred is not registered, the existence of the defect will not be detected, so when reinitializing the recording medium, the previously detected defect area can be accurately avoided. There was a problem that maintenance of the recording medium could not be performed reliably.

In the present invention, when a defect occurs in a recording medium, the position information of the defective recording medium section is registered, and
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved recording medium defect position information recording method so that, if an already allocated replacement area exists in the defective recording medium section, the position thereof is also registered.

[Means and actions for solving problems]

The solution taken by the present invention and its effects will be explained in the first part.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be explained with reference to the diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention shown in the figure.

In FIG. 1, numeral 10 schematically shows the entire storage area of the storage device. 11 is a primary area, and a and b are recording medium sections on which data is recorded. Reference numeral 12 denotes a replacement area section in which a replacement area of the recording medium section in which the defect has occurred is arranged. Reference numeral 13 denotes a defect list in which position information of defective recording medium sections and defective replacement areas is stored. For each recording medium section, alternate allocation processing information regarding that recording medium section is set.

Now, when a defect is detected in the recording medium section (for example b) of the primary area 11 of the recording medium, the host system (not shown) instructs the control device (not shown) to assign a new alternate allocation to the defective recording medium section b. Instruct processing.

When the control device receives this instruction for replacement allocation processing, it performs defective replacement processing. First, before performing a new alternate allocation process for the recording medium section b, the alternate allocation process information of the recording medium section b to be newly allocated for alternate allocation is read and the following processes are performed.

If it is detected from the replacement allocation processing information that replacement allocation processing has not been performed, an unused replacement area (referred to as b') in the replacement area section 12 is searched for and a defect record is recorded, as in the past. Performs alternate allocation processing to allocate as an alternative to the media section. Along with that,
The position information of the defective recording medium portion b is stored in a data storage area (referred to as B) in the defective list 13.

If already allocated replacement area information is detected in the defective replacement processing information, the position information of the already allocated replacement area b' is replaced with the data area (B ’)
so that it is stored in In this case, the position information of the defective recording medium section b has already been stored in another data area B in the defective list 13.

By doing the above, along with the position information of the defective recording medium part that is the target of the replacement allocation process, if there is a replacement area that has already been allocated in the defective recording medium part, the existence of the defect can be confirmed. It is possible to accurately record the positional information of the replacement area. Furthermore, since highly reliable defect history information can be accurately recorded, maintenance of the recording medium can be made more reliable.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 5.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an implementation system of the present invention, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a storage area of a storage device, FIG. 4 is a processing flowchart of the implementation system, and FIG. 5 is an explanation of the sector format already explained. It is a diagram.

(A) Configuration of Implementation System and Recording Medium Storage Area In FIG. 2, reference numeral 20 denotes a control device of the storage device 27, which performs alternate allocation processing and registration processing of defective positions of recording media. A host interface control unit 21 controls the interface between the host system 26 and the control device 20. 22 is a storage device interface control unit, which connects the storage device 27 and the control device 2;
Performs interface control between 0 and 0.

A data buffer 23 is used as a buffer when transferring data between the control device 20 and the host system 26 or the storage device 27. 24
is an ID register in which identification (ID) information of the recording medium is set.

A control section 25 includes a microprocessor (not shown) therein, and manages and executes the overall operation of the control device 20.

The storage device 27 is a storage device such as a magnetic disk, and FIG. 3 shows the entire storage area 1 of the storage device 27.
0 is schematically illustrated.

In FIG. 3, the primary area 11, replacement area section 12, and defective list 13 are the same as those in FIG. 2. The defective list 13 is the primary defective list 13A.
The primary defect list 13A registers the position information of a defective recording medium section detected during the manufacturing process of the storage device, and the secondary defect list 13B stores the storage device After the device is connected to the host system, that is, the location information of the defective recording medium section detected during use is registered.

The recording medium section is composed of sectors shown in Figure 5, as in the conventional system, and the ID section contains the following information:
As already explained, in addition to the identification information of the sector, alternate allocation processing information is set that indicates whether or not alternate allocation is to be performed in that sector, position information of the alternate sector, and the like.

(B) Operation of Implementation System The operation of the implementation system, ie, one embodiment of the present invention, will be explained step by step with reference to the processing flowchart shown in FIG.

It is assumed that defective replacement processing for defective sectors detected during the manufacturing process of the storage device 27 is performed during the manufacturing process, and the position information of the defective sectors has already been stored in the primary defective list 13A. and,
Sector b in the primary area 11 is a defective sector detected during the manufacturing process, and its replacement sector is b' in the replacement area section 12, and the position information of the defective sector b is the data storage area B of the primary defect list 13A. Suppose that it is stored in . Also, sector a in the primary area 11
is the sector in which a defect occurs for the first time during use.

When the host system 26 detects a defective sector, for example, an unreadable error, during operation of the storage device 27, the host system 26 issues a replacement allocation processing command for the sector to the control unit 25 via the host interface control unit 21. Issue. Upon receiving this command, the control device 20 performs defective replacement processing and registration processing of defective sector position information through the following steps.

Step _S1 The control unit 25 decodes the alternate allocation processing command received from the host system 26 and determines the position of the defective sector to be subjected to alternate allocation processing.

Step _S2 The control section 25 reads the ID part of the defective sector from the storage device 27 via the storage device interface control section 22 and sets it in the ID register 24 before executing a new alternate allocation process.

Steps S ₃ and S ₄ The control unit 25 decodes the defective replacement processing information in the read ID section (Step S ₃ ), and determines whether replacement allocation processing has already been performed (Step S ₄ ). ).

Step _S5 If the alternate allocation process is not performed, that is, if the defective sector is sector a, the control unit 25
The position information of the defective sector a is stored in a data area (referred to as A) in the secondary defect list 13B of the storage device 27. When this process is completed, the process moves to step _S8 .

If _it is detected in steps S ₆ and S ₇ that replacement allocation processing has already been performed, that is, if the defective sector targeted for new defective replacement processing is sector b, the controller 25 deciphers the position of the already allocated alternate sector b' from the alternate allocation processing information (step S ₆ ).

In this case, the actual defective sector is sector b', so as a substitute for the positional information of defective sector b, the positional information of the defective replacement sector b' is used in the data area of the secondary defective list 13B ( B′)
(Step _S7 ).

Step _S8 When the process of step _S5 or _S7 is completed, the control unit 25 performs a process of allocating a replacement sector to the defective sector a or b designated by the replacement allocation command from the host system 26. That is, a replacement allocation process is performed in which an unused replacement sector (referred to as b'') in the replacement area section 12 is searched and allocated as a replacement for defective sector a or b. Through this replacement allocation process, the ID of defective sector a or b is Alternate allocation processing information including position information of alternate sector b'' is set in the section.

As the defective sector a or b is linked to the replacement sector b'' by the above-described replacement allocation process, the host system 26 points to the defective sector a or b without being aware of the replacement sector b''. This makes it possible to automatically access sector b'' and perform desired data read and write processing.

Furthermore, it is possible to distinguish and accurately record the positional information of sectors that are defective during the manufacturing of the storage device and sectors that are defective during use, respectively, in the primary defective list 13A and the secondary defective list 13B. . Furthermore, since all of the above-mentioned processes are performed in the control device 20, they can be performed without increasing the processing functions or burden of the host system.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

(b) In addition to the position information of the defective recording medium section that is the target of replacement allocation processing, if there is a replacement area that has already been allocated to the defective recording medium section, the position information of the replacement area where the defect actually exists. Can be recorded accurately.

(b) Since it becomes possible to accurately record highly reliable defect history information, maintenance of the recording medium can be made even more reliable.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1: An explanatory diagram of the principle of the present invention, Fig. 2: An explanatory diagram of the configuration of a system for implementing the present invention, Fig. 3:
. . . An explanatory diagram of the storage area of the storage device of the implementation system, FIG. 4 . . . Processing flowchart of the implementation system, FIG. 5 . . .
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional recording medium defect position information recording method. 1 and 2, 10...storage area, 11...primary area, 12...replacement area section,
13...Defect list, 20...Control device, 21...
...Host interface control unit, 22...Storage device interface control unit, 23...Data buffer, 24...ID register, 25...Control unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A medium defect occurring in a recording medium of a recording device is avoided by alternate allocation with a normal recording medium section, and the position information of the recording medium section in which the defect exists is stored in the storage device. In the recording medium defect position information recording method when registering as history information in a predetermined defect list, the replacement allocation processing information of the recording medium section to be newly subjected to replacement allocation processing is read out before performing the replacement allocation processing. , If it is detected from the replacement allocation processing information that an already allocated replacement area exists, the position of the already allocated replacement area is used as a substitute for the position information of the recording medium unit that is the target of the new replacement allocation processing. A recording medium defect position information recording method, characterized in that information is registered in the defect list.