JPH0744330A - Magnetic disk device and surreptitious use preventing method for recorded data - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a magnetic disk device and a surreptitious use preventing method for recorded data to prevent the robbery of the recorded data by preventing an easy access carried out by a connected host system. CONSTITUTION:A microprocessor 19 writes the password sent from a host system 2 into an E<2>PROM 23 and sets it there. Thereafter no access command is carried out to a magnetic disk 50 from the system 2 as long as a password equal to that received from the system 2 and set at the E<2>PROM 23 is not supplied when a power supply is switched on. Thus the surreptitious use can be prevented for the recorded data of the disk 50.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic disk device, and more particularly to a method for preventing recorded data from being stolen.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, magnetic disk devices have been used in various information processing systems including personal computers. As a method of connecting the magnetic disk device and the host system, a method of incorporating the magnetic disk device in the main body of the host system and a method of connecting the magnetic disk device to the host system using a connection cable are generally used. By the way, in the standard such as PCMCIA interface, a notebook personal computer or the like is provided with a portion called a card slot, and an external peripheral device such as a magnetic disk device is inserted and used in this portion.

Since the magnetic disk device having such a PCMCIA interface can be used by directly inserting it into the slot of the host system, it can be easily attached to and detached from the host system. However, PCMC
The diameter of the magnetic recording medium of a magnetic disk device that conforms to the IA interface standard is generally 1.8 inches or less, and the size is also reduced. It is expected that it will be more easily stolen than the existing connection method. As a countermeasure against theft of such a small magnetic disk device, the host system stores a password (identification information),
There is a method in which the operation is not performed unless the user inputs a correct password immediately after the power is turned on.
However, with this method, if the user knows the password, the recorded data of any connected magnetic disk device can be read out, which is effective in preventing the theft of the recorded data of the magnetic disk device. I understand that it is not. This is because the conventional magnetic disk device is made on the assumption that the magnetic disk device is stationary. Therefore, once the magnetic disk device is connected to the host system, the method of preventing access to the stored information is not included in the magnetic disk device itself. There was a fear that the recorded data would be stolen because it did not exist.

[0004]

Since a small magnetic disk device having a PCMCIA interface can be easily attached to and detached from the host system, it is expected to be easily stolen. If the stolen magnetic disk device is connected to the same host system, there is no way to prevent access to the recorded data in the magnetic disk device itself, so the recorded data is easily stolen. There was a danger.

In view of the above, the present invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks and makes it impossible to easily access from a connected host system, thereby preventing the recorded data from being stolen. It is intended to be provided.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a magnetic disk device for reading and writing data from and to a magnetic disk by an access command from a connected host system. Setting means for storing and setting the identification information stored in the non-volatile memory, and the host system unless the same identification information as the identification information set in the non-volatile memory is input from the host system when the power is turned on. And a control means for controlling not to execute the access command to the magnetic disk input from the.

[0007]

In the magnetic disk device of the present invention, the setting means stores the identification information input from the host system in a writable nonvolatile memory and sets it. When the power is turned on, the control means controls not to execute the access command to the magnetic disk input from the host system unless the same identification information as the identification information set in the nonvolatile memory is input from the host system. . As a result, even if the magnetic disk device is stolen and connected to another host system, the recorded data of the magnetic disk device cannot be read unless the user using the host system knows the identification information. It is possible to prevent the recorded data from being stolen.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a magnetic disk device of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 is a magnetic disk device, and 2 is a host system for detachably connecting the magnetic disk device via a PCMCIA interface. The magnetic disk device 1 includes a hard disk controller 11 that controls reading and writing of data, a read / write circuit 12 that reads and writes data from and to a magnetic head 14, a spindle 13 that rotates a magnetic disk 50, and a magnetic disk that reads and writes data to and from the magnetic disk 50. Head 14, carriage 15 for moving magnetic head 14 in the radial direction of magnetic disk 50, voice coil motor 16 for driving carriage 15, amplifier 17 for amplifying servo data read by magnetic head 14, digital data for servo data A / D conversion circuit 18 for converting to D, a microprocessor 19 for controlling the entire apparatus and seek control of the magnetic head 14, D for converting servo data into analog data
A / A converter 19, a driver circuit 21 for driving the voice coil motor 16, a ROM 22 for storing various programs and various data for controlling the microprocessor 18,
It has an E ² PROM 23 which is a writable non-volatile memory for storing passwords and the like.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. When the magnetic disk device 1 shown in FIG. 1 is used for the first time and the password is not set in the device, the user mounts the magnetic disk device 1 on the host system 2 and then The operation of setting information is performed from the keyboard of the host system 2 or the like. As a result, the host system 2 sends the password setting command to the magnetic disk device 1. When the microprocessor 19 of the magnetic disk device 1 receives the password setting command via the hard disk controller 11, it waits for the password transfer. On the other hand, the user is the host system 2
Then, the password as shown in FIG. 3 is input, and this password is transferred to the microprocessor 19 via the hard disk controller 11. When the password is transferred, the microprocessor 19 writes this password in the E ² PROM 23, and then provides the information indicating that the password is set in the E ² PROM 23.
23, and the process ends. As a result, the password is set in the magnetic disk device 1. After that, the host system 2 accesses the magnetic disk device 1 to read / write data from / to the magnetic disk 50 via the hard disk controller 11, the read / write circuit 12, the magnetic head 14, and the like.

At this time, the microprocessor 19 reads the servo data from the magnetic disk 50 by the magnetic head 14 via the amplifier 17 and the A / D converter 18, and outputs the servo data for seeking the magnetic head 14 to the target track. The magnetic head 14 is created and fed back to the voice coil motor 16 via the D / A conversion circuit 20 and the driver circuit 21 to control the positioning of the magnetic head 14 on the target track. If the user does not want to set a password in the magnetic disk device 1, he / she does not set the password as described above, and starts using this device in the same manner as a normal magnetic disk device.

By the way, when data is transferred from the host system 2 to the magnetic disk device 1, the data is transferred in units of 512 bytes, so that the microprocessor 19 has 51
Although 2-byte data is transferred, only 100-byte information from the beginning of the data is valid as the password information, as shown in FIG. When the content of the password (100 bytes) is all 0, the password once stored in the E ² PROM is erased.

When the magnetic disk device for which the password has been set as described above is turned off and then turned on again to use the magnetic disk device 1, the operation as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 2 is performed. Is done. That is, when the power is turned on, the microprocessor 19 of the hard disk device 1 initializes each part in step 201. At this time, whether or not there is information indicating that the password is set in the E ² PROM 23 is checked. The determination is made in step 202. If the password is set, the process proceeds to step 203, and if it is not set, the process jumps to step 206. When the microprocessor 19 proceeds to step 203, it waits for the password confirmation command input, and in step 204 the host system 2 executes the password collation command to determine whether or not the password is sent from the host system 2. .

The microprocessor 19 proceeds to step 204.
If the access command to the magnetic disk device 1 is issued from the host system 2 instead of the password collation command in step 2, the command is not executed and the process returns to step 203. However, when the password collation command is executed and the password data is transferred, the process proceeds to step 205, and it is determined whether or not the transferred password matches the password set in the E ² PROM 23. , If they do not match, step 203
Return to step 206, and if they match, go to step 206. At step 206, the microprocessor 19 waits for the input of an access command issued from the host system 2,
The process corresponding to the access command input thereafter is performed. On the other hand, if the password is not set in step 202, the microprocessor 19 immediately jumps to step 206, waits for the input of an access command, and the execution of the access command to the magnetic disk device 1 is permitted.

According to this embodiment, once the password is set in the magnetic disk device 1, even if the magnetic disk device 1 is connected to another host system for some time, the password is set by the host system. Unless the same password as the password that has been entered is not entered, the access to the magnetic disk 50 from the host system is not accepted, and the recorded data on the magnetic disk 50 is prevented from being read unnecessarily, so that the recorded data is prevented from being stolen. be able to. In addition, the magnetic disk device of this example is detachable from the host system equipped with the PCMCIA interface, and it is possible to realize the above-mentioned prevention of plagiarism of recorded data while ensuring the convenience.
The present invention can also be applied to a stationary magnetic disk device to prevent the recorded data from being stolen.

[0015]

As described above, according to the magnetic disk device and the method for preventing recorded data theft according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the recorded data from being stolen by making it difficult to access from the connected host system. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a magnetic disk device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the magnetic disk device shown in FIG. 1 at the start of operation.

3 is a diagram showing an example of a password set in the magnetic disk device shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Magnetic disk device 2 ... Host system 11 ... Hard disk controller 12 ... Read / write circuit 13 ... Spindle 14 ... Magnetic head 15 ... Carriage 16 ... Voice coil motor 17 ... Amplifier 18 ... A / D conversion circuit 19 ... Microprocessor 20 ... D / A conversion circuit 21 ... Driver circuit 22 ... ROM 23 ... E ² PROM 50 ... Magnetic disk

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A magnetic disk device for reading / writing data from / to a magnetic disk in response to an access command from a connected host system, wherein a writable nonvolatile memory and identification information input from the host system are stored in the nonvolatile memory. And a magnetic disk input from the host system unless the same identification information as the identification information set in the non-volatile memory is input from the host system when the power is turned on. And a control means for controlling not to execute an access command to the magnetic disk device. 2. A method for preventing plagiarism of data recorded on a magnetic disk of a magnetic disk device for reading / writing data from / to the magnetic disk by an access command from a connected host system, comprising: When the power is turned on after setting the input identification information, the access command to the magnetic disk input from the host system is executed unless the same identification information as the set identification information is input from the host system. A method for preventing recorded data theft, which is characterized by not doing.