JPH0969029A - Doubled disk drive - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable use even if two disks connected to the doubled disk drive has a difference in interface standard. SOLUTION: When a 2nd disk 102 which has got out of order is replaced with a 2nd disk 102' of different interface standards, a data transmitting program 121 transmits a 2nd disk control program 106' for the 2nd disk 102' from a host device 120 to the doubled disk drive 100. On the doubled disk drive 100, a rewriting program 111 overwrites the received 2nd disk control program 106' to the addresses of a flash PROM 110 where the 2nd disk control program 106 is written. Consequently, the 2nd disk 102' operates as a substitute device for the 2nd disk 102.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a duplicated disk device used for storing data in a computer terminal or the like, and more particularly to a duplicated disk device that may use the same device for a long period of time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a highly reliable auxiliary storage device used in a computer terminal or the like, there is a dual disk device in which a disk is dual.

FIG. 6 shows a conventional dual disk device 200.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of FIG. The host control circuit 202 that controls the interface with the host device 201 is connected by the control signal from the host device 201 via the disk duplication control mechanism 203 and has two first disks 204 and two disks 205 of the same interface standard. The same control is performed for each of the. Also, the first disc 2
04 and the data transmitted from the second disk 205 to the upper layer transmits the data of either one of the two connected first disks 204 and the second disk 205 to the upper level apparatus 201. Thereby, the host device 201
The duplicated disk device 200 has been controlled as one disk device.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned conventional dual disk device, the first disk and the second disk must always be disks having the interface of the same standard. Therefore, the dual disk device is used for a long period of time. In that case, there is a problem that when one of the disks fails, a disk having an interface of a corresponding standard cannot be obtained when the disk is replaced due to discontinuation of manufacturing or the like.

Further, when performing maintenance in the event of a disk failure when a large number of computer terminals or the like connected to the redundant disk device are deployed in a wide area, the disk type is managed for each redundant disk device, and the disk for maintenance is replaced by a disk for maintenance. There was also a problem that it had to be prepared for each interface standard.

In view of the above points, an object of the present invention is to provide a duplicated disk device which can be used even if there is a difference in interface standard between two disks connected to the duplicated disk device. Especially.

As prior art, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-241
The "magnetic disk device" disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 267 and the "microprogram correction method" disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-99129 are already known. In the former case, the magnetic disk device has an EEPROM (Electrical)
ly Erasable ProgrammableR
Ead Only Memory) is provided to record defective data such as format data, control constants and magnetic disk defect data.
In the latter, a magnetic disk device is provided with a correction data storage area for storing microprogram correction data, and the microprogram of the random access memory is corrected by the correction data in the correction data storage area. It has nothing to do with duplexing.

[0008]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION A dual disk apparatus according to the present invention comprises a first disk and a second disk, a disk dual control mechanism for controlling the first disk and the second disk, and a dual disk control mechanism and a host. A redundant disk device comprising a host control circuit for controlling an interface with a device; a first disk control circuit for performing input / output to / from the first disk and the second disk by the disk redundant control mechanism; A second disk control circuit, a first disk control program for controlling the first disk control circuit and the second disk control circuit, and a rewritable nonvolatile memory for storing the second disk control program; and the first disk control program And C for executing the second disk control program U and rewriting means for rewriting the first disk control program and the second disk control program on the rewritable non-volatile memory, and the rewritable non-volatile from a host device via the host control circuit. The first disk control program and the second disk control program on the memory can be rewritten according to the interface standard of the first disk and the second disk.

[0009]

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

[0010]

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a dual disk device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The duplicated disk device 100 of this embodiment includes a first disk 101.
And a second disk 102, a first disk control circuit 103 and a second disk control circuit 104 for inputting and outputting to and from the first disk 101 and the second disk 102, a first disk control circuit 103 and a second disk control, respectively. A first disk control program 105 and a second disk control program 106 for respectively controlling the circuit 104, a host control circuit 107 for interfacing with the host device 120, a host control program 108 for controlling the host control circuit 107, and a program CP to execute
U (Central Processing Uni)
t) 109 and a flash PROM (Programmable Read) for storing the first disk control program 105 and the second disk control program 106.
Only memory 110, a rewrite program 111 that rewrites the first disk control program 105 and the second disk control program 106 on the flash PROM 110 according to an instruction from the higher-level device 120, and a ROM (Read) that stores the higher-level control program 108 and the rewrite program 111. Only Memory)
It is composed of The first disk control circuit 1
03, second disk control circuit 104, first disk control program 105, second disk control program 10
6, the host control program 108, the CPU 109 and the rewrite program 111 are the disk duplication control mechanism 11
3.

The host device 120 is a flash PR.
A data transmission program 121 for transmitting data (that is, a disk control program) to be written to the OM 110 is provided.

Referring to FIG. 2, the upper control program 1
The processing of 08 includes a command reception step S101, a maintenance command determination step S102, a read command / write command determination step S103, and a read processing S1.
04, write processing S105, disk control program change determination step S106, and rewriting program starting step S107.

Referring to FIG. 3, read processing S104
Is a parameter conversion step S201, a first disk read request issuing step S202, a second disk read request issuing step S203, a first disk read completion determining step S204, a second disk read completion determining step S205, and a read completion. Notification step S20
6

Referring to FIG. 4, write processing S105
Is a parameter conversion step S301, a first disk write request issuance step S302, a second disk write request issuance step S303, a first disk write completion determination step S304, a second disk write completion determination step S305, and a write completion. Notification step S30
6

Referring to FIG. 5, the rewriting program 11
The process of No. 1 is the disk control program overwrite step S
401 and an overwriting end determination step S402.

Next, the operation of the duplicated disk device 100 of the present embodiment having such a configuration will be described. In general, the disk interface standard is SCSI (S
mall Computer Systems Int
interface) and IDE (Integrar)
Although there are two types of interfaces, an upper device 1 is used here.
A case where the interface between the disk 12 and the redundant disk device 100 is SCSI and the interfaces of the first disk 101 and the second disk 102 in the redundant disk device 100 are IDE will be described.

Prior to the shipment of the duplicated disk device 100, the rewriting program 111, based on the control signal from the data transmission program 121 of the host device 120,
The first disk control program 105 and the second disk control program 106 are written to different addresses on the flash PROM 110. The first disk control program 105 is an ID that can control the first disk 101.
The second disk control program 106 is an E interface program, and is an IDE interface program capable of controlling the second disk 102. Also, the first
Disk control program 105 and host control program 1
08 and the second disk control program 106 and the upper control program 108 are the same SCSI interface.

(1) First, the data read operation will be described.

The redundant disk device 100 is a host device 1.
The read command of the SCSI interface from 20 is received by the upper control circuit 107 (step S10).
1) Since it is not a maintenance command (NO in step S102) but a read command (step S10)
3) It is transmitted to each of the first disk control program 105 and the second disk control program 106 via the host control program 108.

The first disk control program 105 parameter-converts the received SCSI interface read command into an IDE interface read command which is the standard of the first disk 101 (step S20).
1), issue a data read request to the first disk 101 via the first disk control circuit 103 (step S202). On the other hand, the second disk control program 10
6 also parameter-converts the received SCSI interface read command into an IDE interface read command, which is the standard of the second disk 102 (step S201), and transfers the second command via the second disk control circuit 104.
A data read request is issued to the disk 102 (step S203).

When the reading from the first disk 101 is completed,
It is received by the first disk control program 105 via the first disk control circuit 103, converted into a parameter in the SCSI read command format which is an interface with the upper control program 108, and converted into the upper control program
08 is transmitted. In addition, the completion of reading from the second disk 102 is returned to the second disk control circuit 104 through the second disk
SC that is received by the disk control program 106 and is an interface format with the host control program 108
The parameters are converted into the read command format of the SI interface and transmitted to the upper control program 108.

The upper control program 108 waits for the completion of reading the first disk 101 and the completion of reading the second disk 102 (steps S204 and S20).
5) Notify the host device 120 of the read completion of the SCSI interface that arrived earlier (step S
206).

(2) Next, the data write operation will be described.

Also in the data write operation, as in the case of the data read operation, the redundant disk device 100 receives the write command of the SCSI interface from the upper device 120 at the upper control circuit 107 (step S
101), not a maintenance command (NO in step S102), but a write command (step S10).
3) It is transmitted to each of the first disk control program 105 and the second disk control program 106 via the host control program 108.

The first disk control program 105 parameter-converts the received SCSI interface write command into an IDE interface write command which is the standard of the first disk 101 (step S30).
1), issue a data write request to the first disk 101 via the first disk control circuit 103 (step S302). On the other hand, the second disk control program 10
6 also parameter-converts the received write command of the SCSI interface into a read command of the IDE interface, which is the standard of the second disk 102 (step S301), and sends the second command via the second disk control circuit 104.
A data read request is issued to the disk 102 (step S303).

When the write from the first disk 101 is completed,
It is received by the first disk control program 105 via the first disk control circuit 103, converted into parameters in the SCSI write command format which is an interface with the upper control program 108, and then the upper control program 1
08 is transmitted. When the write from the second disk 102 is completed, the second disk control circuit 104 sends a second
SC that is received by the disk control program 106 and is an interface format with the host control program 108
The parameters are converted into the SI interface write command format and transmitted to the upper control program 108.

The upper control program 108 waits for the writing of both the first disk 101 and the second disk 102 to be completed (steps S304 and S30).
5) The write completion of the SCSI interface is notified to the upper level device 120 (step S306).

As described above, the redundant disk device 100
Is recognized as one disk device by the host device 120.

(3) Next, the case where one of the disks fails will be described. Here, the second disk 10
A case where the second disk 102 fails and is replaced with a second disk 102 ′ having a SCSI interface standard different from that of the first disk 101 will be described as an example.

First, the failed second disk 102 is removed from the duplicated disk device 100, and a replacement second disk 102 'is attached instead. Then, the data transmission program 121 of the host device 120 transmits the second disk control program 106 ′ for the second disk 102 ′ to the duplicated disk device 100.

The rewriting program 111 is used by the host device 12
The second disk control program 106 ′ received from the data transmission program 121 of 0 is the flash PROM 1 in which the second disk control program 106 is written.
10 is overwritten (step S401), and when the data of the second disk control program 106 'is completed (YES in step S402), the process is completed.

As described above, the second disk 102 'is the second disk.
Since it can operate as a substitute device for the disk 102,
The data of the first disk 101 can be restored to the second disk 102 ′ according to the instruction from the host device 120.

After this, the parameter conversion step S20
Data reading and data writing are performed with respect to the first disk 101 and the second disk 102 ′ in substantially the same manner as described in (1) and (2) above, except that the parameters in 1 and S301 are changed. Needless to say.

By the way, in the description of the operation of the above embodiment,
Second disk 102 having IDE interface standard
A second disk 1 having a SCSI interface standard
The case of changing to 02 'has been described as an example, but it goes without saying that the interface standards before and after the change are not limited to these standards. Further, the disk to be replaced is not limited to the second disk 102, and when replacing the first disk 101 or the first disk 101.
Of course, the present invention is also applicable to the case where the second disk 102 is replaced at the same time.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention, a disk duplication control mechanism is provided with a first disk control circuit and a second disk control circuit for performing input / output to / from a first disk and a second disk, respectively. A rewritable non-volatile memory that stores a first disk control program and a second disk control program for controlling the first disk control circuit and the second disk control circuit, and a CPU that executes the first disk control program and the second disk control program And a rewriting means for rewriting the first disk control program and the second disk control program stored in the rewritable non-volatile memory, and the first device on the non-volatile memory rewritable from the host device via the host control circuit. One disk control program and second disk control program By allowing rewriting according to the interface standard of the first disk and the second disk, the disk control program for inputting / outputting to / from the alternative disk can be rewritten in the duplicated disk device. It is not always necessary for the disk to have an interface of the same standard, and even if the redundant disk device is used for a long period of time, the disk control program for the alternative disk is replaced by the flash ROM in the redundant disk device when the disk is replaced.
There is an effect that it becomes possible to recover even if it is not available due to the discontinuation of the production of the failed disk by writing to the disk.

Further, even in the case of maintenance in the event of a disk failure when a large number of computer terminals or the like connected to the redundant disk device are deployed in a wide area, it is not necessary to manage the disk type for each redundant disk device, and the maintenance is not required. The effect is that only one type of disk and disk control program need be prepared.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a duplicated disk device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the processing of a higher-level control program in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a read process in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a write process in FIG.

5 is a flow chart showing the processing of the rewriting program in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional duplicated disk device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 Duplicated disk device 101 First disk 102, 102 'Second disk 103 First disk control circuit 104 Second disk control circuit 105 First disk control program 106, 106' Second disk control program 107 Upper control circuit 108 Upper control program 109 CPU 110 Flash PROM 111 Rewriting program 112 ROM 113 Disk duplication control mechanism 120 Upper device 121 Data transmission program

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A first disk and a second disk, a disk duplication control mechanism for controlling the first disk and the second disk, and a host control circuit for controlling an interface between the disk duplication control mechanism and a host device. A redundant disk device comprising: a first redundant disk control mechanism for performing input / output to / from the first disk and the second disk, respectively;
A disk control circuit and a second disk control circuit; a rewritable non-volatile memory storing a first disk control program and a second disk control program for controlling the first disk control circuit and the second disk control circuit; One disk control program and the second
It is composed of a CPU that executes a disk control program and a rewriting unit that rewrites the first disk control program and the second disk control program on the rewritable nonvolatile memory. A dual disk device, wherein the first disk control program and the second disk control program on the rewritable non-volatile memory are rewritable according to the interface standard of the first disk and the second disk. . 2. The dual disk device according to claim 1, wherein the rewritable nonvolatile memory is a flash PROM. 3. The dual disk apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the interface standard of the first disk is IDE, and the interface standard of the second disk is SCSI.