JPS6045972A - Disc control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To control disc devices having different discs by writing device identification data in a specific record of a disc storing medium. CONSTITUTION:The device identification data (He, Cy, Seek) are previously written in a cylinder (Cy)0, a head (He)0, a record (Sec)0 of each unit 2 and its diagonal line. When an electric power supply is turned on in a system, the units 2 are automatically seeked to tracks ''0''. The unit 2 having no automatic seeking is seeked by a disc controller 1. The seeking speed of respective units 2 is uniform. The controller 1 reads identification data of the basis of a sense command from a CPU, stores the data in a register 11 in each unit 2 and reports the data to the CPU. The identification data stored in the controller 1 is referred every transmission of a command to control each unit 2 in accordance with an operation sequence.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Technical Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for controlling a plurality of different types of disk devices using the same controller.

lb+ Technology Background Disk drives differ in the number of cylinders, number of heads, and seek operation sequences depending on their capacity.
Control methods associated with lights often remain largely unchanged.

Therefore, the number of cylinders and heads of each disk device mentioned above,
If a seek operation sequence can be retrieved, a single controller can control different types of disk devices.

The present invention has been devised by focusing on the characteristics of controlling a plurality of disk devices of different types.

(C) Conventional technology and problems Conventionally, when controlling disk devices, ■Each time the disk device changes, the settings on the disk controller must be changed or the disk controller must be newly designed to match the connected disk device. As a result, there were problems such as an increase in the number of types of controllers, a complicated setting, and a decrease in efficiency in terms of operation and maintenance. ■His method involves installing a circuit in the disk device to set and hold model information, and reporting the above model information as response information in response to a request from the controller (for example, issuing a sense command). Ta.

In this case, an extra circuit and a special interface for reporting model information using sense commands are required, resulting in an increase in price. ■In other methods, for example, a table was created in the system program and the model information of the disk devices connected to the disk controller was set there, so the type and number of disk devices connected to the disk controller changed. It was necessary to change the system program each time.

+d) Purpose of the Invention In view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional technology, the present invention provides a method for configuring different types of data using a single disk controller by means other than software (table settings on the system program) and terminal settings (flag settings) on the hardware. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method that makes it possible to control a disk device.

(e) Structure and object of the invention According to the present invention, in a disk controller that controls a plurality of different types of disk devices, there is provided a means for writing device identification data in a specific record of a disk storage medium, and a method for writing the data. means for reading and determining an operating mode for controlling the disk storage medium based on its contents; means for notifying software of the data; means for protecting the record storing the data; device identification stored in the specific record of the disk storage medium. There is an advantage that any disk device connected to the controller can be controlled by reading and retaining the data by the controller and referring to it when executing each command.

(fl Embodiment of the Invention First, the general operation when controlling a disk device will be explained.

In the central processing unit (not shown), seek commands, read commands, write commands, etc. are executed.

In the case of a seek command, execution of the command determines the next read to be executed, the data read in the write command, and the write position.

However, read and write commands directly specify the head position and record position to read.

You can also do light.

The present invention uses the number of heads (He) and the cylinder (C
y) How to obtain the number and seek mode.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of connection between a disk controller embodying the present invention and various disk devices (hereinafter referred to as units), in which 1 is a disk controller, and 11 is a device type identification register necessary for implementing the present invention. (D
TRR), 2 is a unit.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the differences in devices for each unit number, and it is understood that the number of heads, number of cylinders, and seek mode are different for each unit.

Here, the normal seek mode is a mode in which pulses are issued to perform a seek operation in accordance with the time required to move the head from one cylinder to the next. Also, in the mode with Sll/SD, when the head is moved significantly, it is first moved at the normal speed mentioned above, then moved at high speed in the middle, and finally reduced to the normal speed. The purpose is to perform efficient seek operations.

Such number of heads (He), number of cylinders (Cy),
Depending on the seek mode, for example, the processing when calculating an address in the central processing unit and the resulting method of controlling the seek operation will differ.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of device identification data provided on the disk recording medium of each unit, which is the main focus of the present invention. Head 0. It is provided in sector 0 and sectors diagonally thereto.

Here, (a) indicates a disk recording medium of a certain unit, and 0-15 are record (Sec) numbers T:.

(b) is cylinder (Cy) 0. Head (He) O,
(C) is a diagram showing an example of storing the device identification data, and in this example, record (See) 0 or face-to-face record (Sec) 8 is shown. Stored.

The maximum head number is stored in He, the maximum cylinder number is stored in Cy, and the seek operation mode is stored in 5eek.

The operation of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

■First, for example, the central processing unit starts, and its unit 2
When using a special command, as shown in Figure 3, each unit 2's cylinder (Cy) O+ head (He) O, record (Sec) 0° and its diagonal record (Sec) Write the device identification data (He, Cy, 5eek) in the field. The operation of writing with this special command functions as a protection mechanism for the device identification data.

Further, for the main write operation, a method of writing using an operation console or the like provided in the unit 2 itself may be considered.

If the unit is new and has not been formatted yet, write the device identification data using the above method after formatting is completed.

Device identification data is track 0 (cylinder O.

In addition to the head (O), the reason for duplication by installing the head (Lj) diagonally is to minimize malfunctions caused by damage to the disk recording medium caused by the head coming into contact with the disk recording medium when turning on or turning off the power. This is because it is most effective to record diagonally, considering the structure of the medium.

■When the system is powered on, unit 2 automatically seeks to track O.

For units 2 that do not have automatic seek, the disk controller 1 causes them to seek.

However, the seek speed is track 0 (Cy
O) Since the seek operation is performed while detecting and checking the signal, it does not differ depending on the unit.

(2) When a sense command is sent from the central processing unit of the system, the disk controller 1 reads the device identification data, holds it in the register 11 for each unit, and operates to report it to the central processing unit.

The central processing unit calculates addresses, creates commands, etc. regarding the data to be processed according to the contents.

■The device identification data held in the disk controller l is referenced every time a command to access a certain unit is sent from the central processing unit, and the operation sequence C that controls the unit is e.g. The access order and seek speed (normal, with SO/SD) are determined, and each unit is controlled according to the operation sequence.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained in detail above, the disk control method of the present invention writes device identification data (lle, Cy, 5eek) in a specific record of a disk recording medium in advance, thereby allowing the device identification data (lle, Cy, 5eek) to be The disk controller reads and holds the data, and reports it to the central processing unit. Therefore, in the disk controller, the control method can be changed depending on the disk unit number.

Therefore, one controller has the advantage that disk devices with different disks for each unit number can be controlled at low cost.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of connection between a disk controller embodying the present invention and various disk devices. Figure 2 is a diagram showing the differences in models for each disk device number,
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of device identification data provided on a disk recording medium. In the drawing, 1 is a disk controller, 11 is a disk type identification register, 2 is a disk device (unit), He is the maximum head number, Cy is the maximum cylinder number, and 5eek are the seek operation sequences, respectively. v-1 town f 2wJ

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a disk controller that controls a plurality of different types of disk devices, means for writing device identification data in a specific record of a disk storage medium, reading the data, and determining an operation mode for controlling the disk storage medium based on the contents thereof. means for notifying the data to software, means for protecting the record storing the data, and means for storing the record in duplicate on a diagonal on a cylinder,
A disk control method characterized in that the disk device is controlled according to the contents of the specific record.