JPS60101765A - Diagnostic system of magnetic disk device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily diagnose a magnetic disk device including a driving system by securing at least one of stand-by cylinder as a cylinder for diagnosis, and diagnosing read/write operation including the driving system. CONSTITUTION:A magnetic disk device 7 is provided with a diagnostic setting switch SW1 and a re-diagnostic switch SW2, and when the SW1 is on, LEDs 1 and 2 are both turn on; when a diagnostic result is obtained, the LED1 or 2 is turned on to announce whether the diagnosis is taken normally or not. Further, the LED1 is turned on and the LED2 is flashed to announce that the diagnostic cylinder is a substitute cylinder and the diagnosis can not taken with the magnetic disk.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Technical Field) The present invention relates to a diagnostic method for a magnetic disk device.

(Prior art) As a diagnostic method for magnetic disk devices, a loop write-to-write method has been used to diagnose the write circuit/continuous output circuit of a magnetic disk device without connecting a magnetic disk drive device.
Read (Loop Write T.

There is a Read method. However, with this method, the drive system could not be diagnosed because it did not use a magnetic disk drive device. In order to diagnose the drive system, it is necessary to actually write data on the magnetic disk, read the data after writing, and compare the written data with the read data.

However, some data has already been written on the magnetic disk, and this data cannot be destroyed. For this purpose, it is conceivable to prepare a separate working disk that does not survive even if data is destroyed, and use this working disk to write/read data and perform diagnosis, but with this method, each time a diagnosis is made, the working disk It is cumbersome to operate as it has to be replaced.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to provide an improved diagnostic method for a magnetic disk device that can diagnose the magnetic disk device including the drive system. It is.

(Structure of the Invention) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention secures at least one of the spare cylinders provided on the magnetic disk as a cylinder for diagnosis, and uses this cylinder to include a drive system. This is used to diagnose excessive write/read operations and will be explained in detail below.

(Example) FIG. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of a magnetic disk device.
A magnetic disk is composed of one or more disks, each having a plurality of concentric recording areas (hereinafter abbreviated as cylinders), and each cylinder having a plurality of sectors. 2 is a magnetic disk drive motor, 3 is a magnetic head, and 4 is a reading system.
A write control unit (read/write control unit), 5 is a drive system control unit for driving the magnetic disk drive motor 2 and a magnetic head moving means (not shown), and 6 is an interface for data transfer with a host device. Department. FIG. 2 shows details of the magnetic disk 1, where +A is the recording area, B is the outermost cylinder, and C is the innermost cylinder.

In general, writing to and reading from a magnetic disk is performed by transferring magnetic disk address information (cylinder number, sector number, magnetic head number) and information on the number of data to be written/read from a host device. The operations of writing to and reading from magnetic disks are well known and need no further explanation here.

In the magnetic disk 1 shown in Fig. 2, only the outermost cylinder B to the innermost cylinder c-1 can be used for recording, but the few cylinders closest to the innermost cylinder C have a special role as spare cylinders. fulfill These spare cylinders are used as substitute cylinders for the defective recording cylinder when the recording cylinder is defective. Furthermore, the usage rate of these spare cylinders decreases closer to the inner circumference due to the recording bit density.

In consideration of the above points, the present invention reserves the innermost cylinder C, which is used less frequently, for diagnostic purposes, and uses this cylinder to check the operation of the magnetic disk drive when performing diagnosis. If the innermost cylinder C is already being used as a substitute cylinder, the diagnosis will not be performed using that cylinder and the diagnosis will be aborted, or the operator will be notified that diagnosis is not possible (for example, by (displayed in ) to leave subsequent processing to the operator. When entrusting the processing to an operator, the operator replaces the working disk with a working disk as necessary and performs diagnosis again using the innermost cylinder of the working disk. At this time, good results can be obtained by providing a means (for example, a switch means) for designating re-diagnosis at a location that can be operated by the operator. However, it is necessary that the innermost cylinder as a working disk is not an alternative cylinder.

In the above, the determination as to whether the cylinder is an alternative cylinder may be made based on the alternative cylinder flag information in the flag information area (defective cylinder flag, alternative cylinder flag, etc.) in the recording format on the magnetic disk 1. Note that the flag information area is usually recorded before address information and data information.

Diagnosis is actually required when the magnetic disk device is powered on or reset, or when an error occurs in the magnetic disk device and a diagnostic command is sent from the host device, or when the operator sets the diagnosis locally. It is time to give a diagnostic command. As for the diagnostic operation, the above ■
In the case of and (■), the innermost cylinder J is an alternative cylinder, and if there is no such cylinder, diagnosis is performed using that cylinder.On the other hand, when it is an alternative cylinder, diagnosis is not performed with that cylinder, and the diagnosis is aborted, and this fact is reported to the host device. It is desirable to do so, and in the case of (2) above, the operator (specifies the diagnosis using the diagnosis setting means, and if the innermost cylinder is not an alternative cylinder, performs the diagnosis using that cylinder and displays the diagnosis results to the operator using the display means, etc.) On the other hand, if the cylinder is a substitute cylinder, no diagnosis is performed on the cylinder, and the operator is notified of this using a display means or the like, and upon receiving the notification, the operator replaces the working disk with the working disk and sets the re-diagnosis setting means. It is desirable to perform a re-diagnosis and notify the operator of the diagnosis results by display means or the like.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the above-mentioned diagnosis setting means, diagnosis result display means, and re-diagnosis setting means, where 7 is a magnetic disk control device;
8 is a magnetic disk drive, and SWl is a diagnostic setting switch for making diagnostic settings, which is composed of a switch and a switch. SW2 is a re-diagnosis setting switch and is composed of a non-locking switch.

LED 1 indicates that the diagnosis has ended normally, and the LED
2 indicates abnormal termination. The display method for LEDs 1 and 2 is to blink LEDs 1 and 2 respectively when SWl is on (diagnosis enabled) and diagnostic operation is in progress, and when the diagnosis result is obtained, LED 1 or 2 is lit to indicate whether the test has ended normally. Informs you of abnormal termination, lights up LED J, LED 2
blinks to indicate that the diagnostic cylinder is an alternative cylinder and that diagnosis cannot be performed on this magnetic disk.

2. The usage of each switch and display device is merely an example, and other methods can be used.

In the above explanation, a method was explained in which the innermost circumferential cylinder is used as the diagnostic cylinder. However, as a second embodiment, it is also possible to prepare multiple diagnostic cylinders in the spare cylinder. In this case, multiple cylinders can be used for diagnosis. This has the advantage that it is possible to perform a reading/@-diagnosis, and that even better diagnosis can be made because the number of types of operation of the drive system is increased. In carrying out this second embodiment, if the diagnostic cylinder is already used as a substitute cylinder, the diagnosis is performed without using the cylinder as a substitute cylinder, and all the diagnostic cylinders are used as substitute cylinders. If it is used, it is necessary to perform the same processing as described above.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above in detail, according to the present invention, at least one cylinder of the preliminary cylinders provided on the magnetic disk is used as a cylinder for diagnosis, so that the magnetic disk including the drive system can be This has the advantage that the device can be easily diagnosed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a magnetic disk device, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the magnetic disk, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the magnetic disk device. 1... Magnetic disk, 7... Magnetic disk control device, 8... Magnetic disk drive. Patent applicant Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. Figure 1 SWI SW2 LEDI Lhi υ2

Claims (1)

[Claims] When diagnosing a magnetic disk device, it is checked whether or not a predetermined number of cylinders for diagnosis near the innermost periphery are substituted among the substitute cylinders provided on the magnetic disk, and if there is a cylinder that has not been substituted, the cylinder is replaced. If all the cylinders have already been replaced, the diagnosis will not be performed on the magnetic disk, and the system will inform the iorator to that effect through display etc. A diagnostic method for a magnetic disk device characterized by entrusting processing to an operator.