JPH06251503A - Method for controlling flexible disk device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To manage the defect of a medium without using a user area by recording a necessary information with the free area of the medium corresponding to the dislocation of a head as an information management area and reporting the information to a host device. CONSTITUTION:Areas corresponding to the dislocation of the heads 22 and 23 for the flexible disk 21 in the flexible disk device are utilized an information management area 24. Then, the number of rewritings, the number of copied parts, the number of chukings, error information, the operation mode of the disk 21, etc., are recorded on the area 24, managed and information about there is reported to the host device. Thus, the defect management of the disk is carried out without using the user area, the life, damages, etc., of the medium of the disk, etc., are managed thereby and the handleability of the device is improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of controlling a flexible disk drive capable of performing defect management by utilizing an empty area of a medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for managing defects in a magnetic disk medium, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-16165
There is a "hard disk device" described in Japanese Patent No.
In this apparatus, a defect management track is provided in addition to the normal data area of the disc, and error management can be performed without the presence of a defect-free area in the data area. That is, the head is sought from the outermost peripheral portion of the medium inward to find a defect-free track even with one cylinder, and this track is formed as a defect management track. By using the track No. as the data area, the defect management track performs the defect management of the data area. On the other hand, in the flexible disk device (hereinafter, abbreviated as FDD), there is no device that manages defects on the medium, and there is no other method than discarding the defect. That is, since the flexible disk itself is relatively inexpensive, it was considered natural to replace it with a new one before a defect occurred.

However, some media have defects from the beginning, and if defect management can be easily performed on such media, resource saving and cost reduction are extremely effective. Therefore, it is conceivable to apply the above-mentioned hard disk defect management method to FDD, but if it is applied to FDD, the data area of the medium will be used as the medium management area. When a writing operation is performed by a different type of FDD, there is a problem that the management information recorded up to that time is erased. A state in which the same medium is recorded at different recording densities will be referred to as an operation mode. Further, the conventional FDD has a function of recording on the same medium at different recording densities.
In order to change the recording density, it was necessary to change the number of rotations of the medium for recording. In order for the host device to read the FDD recorded by changing the rotation speed, one rotation speed is designated in the FDD once, the data area on the medium is read, and whether the data can be read or not is read. If it is determined that the data area cannot be read, it is necessary to read the data area again at the other number of rotations. Therefore, it is troublesome to determine the recording density recorded on the medium.

[0004]

As described above, since the FDD can record on the same medium at different recording densities, when writing is performed at one recording density, the management recorded at the other recording density is performed. There was a problem that information was erased. A first object of the present invention is to solve the above conventional problems and provide a flexible disk control method capable of performing defect management of a medium without using the data area of the medium. . A second object of the present invention is to manage the number of retries to prevent a failure such as data error or data destruction in advance, and to manage the number of chucking operations to realize a medium. Before the product reaches the end of its life, it is possible to give a pre-warning and manage the error information so that the past failure status of the FDD can be grasped at the time of failure investigation, and the operation mode can be managed so that the medium It is another object of the present invention to provide a flexible disk control method capable of facilitating the operation mode setting at the time of replacement or when the power of the FDD is turned on.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a flexible disk control method according to the present invention comprises:
(B) In a flexible disk device connected to a host device via a bus, an empty area other than the data area on the recording medium is assigned as an information management area, and an error occurs when the recording medium is accessed and a retry operation is executed. Each time, the number of retries is recorded in the information management area, the cumulative number of retries and retries executed before that is calculated, and the number of retries at the same part in one command execution is calculated. When the value exceeds a predetermined value, the data recorded in the part is copied to the information management area, and the total number of copied parts is also recorded in the information management area to record the part When the cumulative total of the numbers exceeds a predetermined value, an alarm is output to the higher-level device and displayed on the display of the higher-level device. - the number of sites and copy - de - is characterized by sending a data to the host device. Also,
(B) The cumulative number of chucking operations when the recording medium is inserted is recorded in the information management area, and it is determined whether or not the cumulative number exceeds a predetermined value each time recording is performed, and the predetermined value is determined. When it exceeds the limit, an alarm is output to the upper device and displayed on the display of the upper device, and if there is a request from the upper device, it reports that the cumulative number of chucking operations has exceeded a predetermined value. It is also characterized by doing. Also,
(C) When a failure such as an error occurs during data read / write operation, error information is generated each time the failure occurs, and the generated error information is transferred to the information management area. It is also characterized in that the error information recorded in the information management area is read out and transferred when the error information collection command is received from the host device by sequentially recording. Further, (d) a read / write operation mode is recorded in the information management area, and when the power of the flexible disk device is turned on or when the recording medium is replaced, the information management area is read and the operation mode of the flexible disk device is read. -It is also characterized by checking whether or not the code is recorded.

[0006]

In the present invention, the medium is managed by utilizing the free area of the FDD. That is, in the FDD, in order to avoid the interference between the facing heads, the head positions are displaced by several tracks in the diameter direction of the medium. Although the number of data tracks arranged on both sides of the medium is the same on each side, the heads are arranged so as to be displaced, so that an empty area corresponding to the displacement of the head occurs on the medium. This empty area is used as an information management area. In this information management area, the medium is accessed by FDD, and the cumulative number of retry operations when the retry operation is executed is recorded in units of retry parts. When the cumulative total number of retry operations exceeds a predetermined number. , The data recorded in that part is copied to the information management area. In addition, the total number of times of copying is recorded in the information management area of the medium, and when the total number of copied parts exceeds a predetermined number, or is reported to the host device each time copying is made,
Display on the display. This allows other different types of FD
Even if the write operation is performed with D, there is an advantage that the management information recorded so far is not erased. Record the cumulative number of times the chucking operation was performed when the medium was inserted in the information management area of the medium, and report to the host device when the cumulative number of chucking operations exceeded a specified value or when the chucking operation was performed. Or display on the display. In this way, manage the number of chucking operations,
Since it is reported to the host device or displayed on the display, the life of the medium can be grasped. When the medium is accessed, error information is sequentially recorded in the information management area every time a failure such as an error occurs, so that at least two pieces of error information can be recorded. In this way, since the FDD error information is sequentially recorded and can be read out, the past history of the medium can be grasped. The conditions of read / write operation are recorded in the information management area, and when the next power supply is turned on, this is read and set in the operation mode. In this way, the operation mode of the FDD is recorded and read out every time the medium is exchanged or each time the power is turned on, so that the operation mode for the medium can be designated by the FDD itself.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the periphery of an FDD and a host device showing an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a host device, 2 is an FDD, 3 is an interface circuit, 4 is a logic circuit, 5 is a ROM, 6 is a RAM, 7 is a stepping motor driver, 8 is a spindle motor driver, 9
Is a writing / reading circuit, and 10 is a display. FDD2
An interface circuit 3 therein exchanges data with the host device 1 and also has a read only memory (ROM) 5
A random access memory (RAM) 6 for temporarily storing data is used to control the stepping motor driver-7, the spindle motor driver-8 and the write / read circuit 9 via the logic circuit 4. The host device 10 is a display device 1 for displaying the status of the FDD 2.
Connect 0 to control this.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the information management area at the time when the medium is inserted into the FDD. When the medium is inserted into the FDD device, a head (upper) 22 and a head (lower) 23 for accessing the medium 21 are present on both sides of the medium 21, as shown in FIG. Reference numeral 22 is displaced from the head (lower) 23 toward the inner peripheral side of the medium 21 by several tracks. In normal read / write operation, the head (upper) 22
The head (lower) 23 stops at the innermost track of the data area, but the free area 24 can be used as an information management area by further accessing the head to the inner circumference side. Similarly, as shown in FIG. 2B, in a normal read / write operation, the head (upper) 22 and the head (lower) 23 stop at the outermost track of the data area, but the heads are further moved. By accessing the outer peripheral side, the empty area 25 can be used as an information management area.

FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 are flowcharts of the management of the number of retries, the operation after the FDD is started, and the self-diagnosis operation according to the present invention, respectively. In the method of managing the number of retries, as shown in FIG. 3, first, the medium is waited for to be inserted into the FDD (step 301), and if the medium is inserted, the medium is accessed (step 302) to perform the FDD.
It is determined whether or not the retry operation has been executed (step 303). When the retry operation is not executed, the process ends normally (step 304). When the retry operation is executed, the number of retries is recorded in the information management area of the medium and the total is counted (step 305). Has the number of consecutive retries in the same retry area, for example, the same sector, reached a certain number (step 3
06) or when the number of retries reaches a predetermined number in the same sector (step 307), the data recorded in the sector is copied to the information management area (step 308). When the copy is completed, a copy end signal is output (step 309) to display on the LED or the like. Then, the number of copied sectors is recorded in the information management area and after counting (step 310), the medium access is terminated.

Next, in the operation after the FDD is activated, as shown in FIG. 4, the insertion of the medium into the FDD is waited (step 31).
1) If the medium is inserted, the medium self-diagnosis operation is performed (step 312). After that, the normal processing is started.
For details of the self-diagnosis operation, as shown in FIG. 5, after the medium is inserted into the FDD, the total number of copied sectors recorded in the information management area by that time is read (step 3
13) It is determined whether the number of copied sectors is equal to or larger than a predetermined number (step 314). Next, when the number of copied sectors is a predetermined number or more, an alarm signal is output from the FDD to the host device (step 315) and the LED is turned on.
Etc. are displayed. When the number of sectors is less than the specified number,
At that point, the self-diagnosis operation ends. FIG. 6 is an operation flow chart for managing the number of times the FDD is chucked in the present invention.
It is a chart. First, waiting for the medium to be inserted into the FDD (step 401), if the medium is inserted, the total number of chucking times recorded in the information management area of the medium is counted up (step 402). The total number of times of chucking is a predetermined number, for example, 8 times the number of times of chucking life.
When it has reached 0% (step 403) and has not reached the life count (step 404), an alarm is output (step 406). On the other hand, when the number of times of chucking has not reached 80% of the number of lifetimes, medium access is executed. When the number of times of chucking reaches the number of lifetimes, the upper device is notified that the number of lifetimes has been reached (step 405), and the medium access is executed.

7 and 8 show the FDD according to the present invention.
Is an operation flow chart for managing the error information of the above.
First, as shown in FIG. 7, when an error occurs in the FDD during a data reading operation, error information (sense data, command in which an error has occurred) is generated (step 501). The generated error information is added to the previously recorded error information and recorded in the information management area (step 502). It is judged whether or not the error information is surely recorded (step 503), and if it is recorded, the process ends. If the error information is not surely recorded, the number of retries is recorded in the information management area and is counted up for retrying again (step 504). It is determined whether or not the retry operation has been executed 10 times (step 505), and if it is less than 10 times, retry is performed again, and therefore the process returns to step 502 and the error information is recorded in the information management area. If the retry operation is the tenth time, the processing failure is reported to the host device (step 506) and the processing ends. On the other hand, when the host device issues a command to search the recorded error information for the medium, as shown in FIG. 8, an error information collection command is received from the host device (step 507), and the medium information is received. The error information recorded in the management area is read (step 508), and the error information is transferred to the host device (step 509).

FIGS. 9, 10 and 11 are flowcharts for setting the operation mode of the FDD according to the present invention. FIG. 9 shows a process of checking the operation mode of the medium when the FDD power source is turned on and when the medium is replaced. First, wait for the insertion of the medium (step 60
1) When the medium is inserted, the information management area is read (step 602) and it is checked whether the FDD operation mode is recorded (step 603).
When the operation mode is recorded, the FDD is set to the operation mode (step 604) and the RAM inside the FDD is set.
The operation mode is recorded in 6 (step 605). After that, it waits for the command reception from the host device (step 6).
06). In step 603, when the FDD operation mode is not recorded in the information management area of the medium, two operation modes (A, B) are automatically set by the following operations (steps 607 to 612). . First, the data area is read at the number of revolutions of the spindle motor in the operation mode A (step 607). Next, the data area is read at the number of revolutions of the spindle motor in operation mode B (step 608). After that, as to the reading results of the operation modes A and B, it is judged whether both are normally ended or the errors are ended (step 609). If both are normally completed, it cannot be specified in either mode A or B, so that the fact that the operation mode is not set is stored in the internal RAM of the FDD (step 613). Then, it waits for a command (step 606). Also, the operation mode
If the process ends normally only in step A (step 610),
The operation mode of FDD is set to A (step 61).
2). If the operation mode A ends abnormally, the operation mode of the FDD is set to B (step 61).
1). When the operation mode is set to A or B, the operation mode set in the RAM 6 in the FDD is recorded (step 605) and the command waits (step 606). In this way, when the mode A or B can be specified, the FDD is set to the operation mode by determining which one is the mode.

FIG. 10 shows a process of executing a read / write command from the host device. When a read / write command is given from the host device, first, a working note indicating whether the operation mode of the FDD needs to be checked is read (step 615), and it is determined whether the check is necessary (step 615). 616). If the check is not necessary, the read / write command from the host device is executed (step 617), and then the command end is reported to the host device (step 618). If it is determined in step 616 that the operation mode needs to be checked, it is checked whether or not the operation mode has already been set (step 619). If the operation mode is set, the process returns to step 617 to execute reading / writing. If the operation mode is not set, it is reported to the higher-level device as an operation mode unset error (step 620) and the process is terminated. When the host device detects an error in which the operation mode is not set, the host device issues a command for writing the operation mode to the information management area to the FDD. FIG. 11 shows the processing of the command for writing the operation mode. When the operation mode write command is received, the information management area is first read (step 622), and it is checked whether the operation mode of the FDD is recorded (step 623). The motion mode recorded on the medium
It is compared whether or not the mode and the operation mode designated by the host device match (step 624). If they match, the process ends without doing anything. If they do not match, the fact that the operation mode does not match is reported to the higher-level device (step 627), and the process ends. On the other hand, if it is determined in step 623 that the operation mode is not recorded in the information management area of the medium,
Write the operation mode to the information management area (step 62).
5), the FDD is set to the operation mode designated by the host device (step 626), and the process is terminated.

As described above, in the present invention, by setting the information management area outside the normal data area, it is necessary to manage the medium without using the user's data area. Further, since the number of retries recorded in the information management area can be managed, it is possible to prevent a failure from occurring, and the user can take preventive measures such as backing up data. In addition, by managing the number of times of chucking operation at the time of inserting the medium in the FDD, the life of the medium can be grasped, and the user can know that the medium is approaching the life. It is possible to avoid it. By recording the FDD error information in the information management area of the medium,
The user reads the error information at the time of failure investigation and
It is possible to grasp the failure status of the DD. Further, the operation mode of the medium is recorded in the information management area of the medium, and the operation mode can be set by the FDD itself when the medium is exchanged or the FDD power is turned on, so that the host device newly specifies the operation mode. There is no need to do this, and the usability of the medium is improved.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The defect management of the medium can be performed without using the data area of the medium. That is, by controlling the number of retries at the time of accessing the medium, it is possible to prevent failures such as data error and data destruction, and by controlling the number of chucking operations, It is possible to report in advance before it reaches the end of its life, and by managing error information, it is possible to grasp the past failure status of the FDD at the time of failure investigation and to manage the operation mode. Operation mode during media replacement or FDD power on.
It is possible to easily set the mode.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram around an FDD and a host device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an information management area of the present invention, which is an FDD.
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view when a medium is inserted into the device.

FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of retry count management in the present invention.
It is a chart.

FIG. 4 is an operation flow chart when performing self-diagnosis in the present invention.
It is a chart.

FIG. 5 is a detailed operation flowchart of self-diagnosis in FIG.

FIG. 6 is an operation flowchart for managing the number of times of chucking in the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an operation flowchart for writing error information in the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an operation flowchart of error information reporting in the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the operation mode setting operation when the FDD power supply is turned on and when the medium is replaced according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an operation flow chart of executing a read / write command from a host device according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart of the operation mode write operation in the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 host device 2 FDD 3 interface circuit 4 logic circuit 5 ROM 6 RAM 7 stepping motor driver-8 spindle motor driver-9 writing / reading circuit 10 indicator 21 medium 22 head (upper) 23 head (lower) 24, 25 Information management area

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Kenichi Senda, 1 Ikegami, Haruoka-cho, Owariasahi-shi, Aichi Stock Company, Hitachi Asahi Electronics (72) Inventor, Eiichi Shinya, Ikegami, Haruka-cho, Owari-Ashi, Aichi Stock Association Hitachi, Ltd. Office Systems Division

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A flexible disk device connected to a higher-level device via a bus allocates an empty area other than a data area on a recording medium as an information management area, and an error occurs when the recording medium is accessed to perform a retry operation. Each time a command is executed, the number of retry operations is recorded in the information management area, the cumulative number of the number of retry operations and the number of retries executed before that is calculated, and the same command execution is performed. When the number of retries in a part exceeds a predetermined value, the data recorded in the part is copied to the information management area, and the cumulative number of copied parts is also recorded in the information management area. , And when the total number of the parts exceeds a predetermined value,
An alarm is output to the host device and displayed on the display of the host device, and if there is a request from the host device, it is copied.
A method for controlling a flexible disk device, comprising transmitting the number of copied parts and copy data to the host device. 2. The flexible disk drive control method according to claim 1, wherein the cumulative number of chucking operations when a recording medium is inserted is recorded in the information management area, and the cumulative number of times is recorded for each recording. Exceeds a predetermined value, and when it exceeds the predetermined value, an alarm is output to the upper device and displayed on the display of the upper device, and a request from the upper device is issued. If there is, a flexible disk drive control method is characterized in that the total number of chucking operations exceeds a predetermined value. 3. The flexible disk drive control method according to claim 1, wherein when a failure such as an error occurs during a data read / write operation, error information is generated each time the failure occurs. Then, the generated error information is sequentially recorded in the information management area, and when an error information collection command is received from the host device, the error information recorded in the information management area is read. A method for controlling a flexible disk device, characterized by transferring. 4. The method for controlling a flexible disk device according to claim 1, wherein a read / write operation mode is recorded in the information management area, and when the flexible disk device is powered on and the recording medium is replaced. At times, the information management area is read to check whether the operation mode of the flexible disk device is recorded or not, and a flexible disk device control method.