JPS63285777A - Registering method for alternate information in magnetic disk device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten a working time and to improve reliability by withdrawing the alternate information of a magnetic disk prior to the reformat and automatically reregistering after completion. CONSTITUTION:When a reformat processing is started, the alternate information retreating program stored in the firmware 5 of a disk controller 2 is carried out, the alternate information 7 of a magnetic disk 3 is read and stored in the memory 8 of the disk controller 2. Thereafter, the alternate information writing program is carried out after completion of the reformat and the alternate information stored on the memory 8 is automatically reregistered in the magnetic disk 3.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a method for reregistering alternate information in a magnetic disk device, and is applicable to reformatting of a magnetic disk that is a recording medium of a magnetic disk device. It is useful.

<Prior art> Figure 2 shows a magnetic disk device as an external storage device.
1 is a block diagram showing an electronic computer system.

As shown in the figure, computer systems generally have a host CPU, which is the core of the system, in terms of hardware.
, disk controller 2 and disk controller 2
It has a magnetic disk device 3 that is controlled by the system and writes and reads information to and from an internal magnetic disk.In terms of software, it includes an O8 (operating system) 4 that controls the system and a magnetic disk device that resides in the disk controller 2. It has disk control firmware 5 that controls 3.

In this way, the host CPUI processes information input from the input/output device 6, writes data to a predetermined position on the magnetic disk of the magnetic disk group W3 via the disk controller 2, and also writes data to a predetermined position on the magnetic disk from the predetermined position on the magnetic disk. The data is read out through the input/output device 6, processed, and outputted to the input/output device 6.

By the way, the magnetic disk of the magnetic disk device 3 is
In order to make it usable by the system, a process called formatting is required. This formatting involves dividing the magnetic surface of a magnetic disk into easily manageable storage capacity units, assigning a unique address to each unit, and performing initial settings.

The storage capacity unit at this time is called a sector, and the sector address is specified when writing to the magnetic disk and when reading from the magnetic disk.

However, due to variations during manufacturing, the magnetic surface of a magnetic disk has defective areas where data cannot be stored correctly even when written. This defective part cannot be used as a storage part. That is, during formatting, sectors of the magnetic disk are
, and if there is a defect in S, (1<i<n), even if data is written to the sector at sector address i, it cannot be used.

In order to avoid such a situation, on a magnetic disk that is divided into n sectors, the number of usable sectors is set to M (m<
n), and (n-m) are allocated and used as replacement sectors and control sectors. In this way, the control sector 5ll (1≦a (n
) In addition to the above 41, the disk control firmware 5 initially refers to this information, so that even if writing or reading of sectors at sector address i is specified from the host CPUI, by referring to sector S at sector address m. You should be able to write and read data normally. That is, from the host CPUI, sector S,
~S, , appears to be continuous.

Information regarding this replacement sector is referred to as alternate information 7 (see second @), and a series of operations associated with this is referred to as registration of alternate information.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional technology, after formatting and registration of alternate information are performed, it becomes necessary to format the magnetic disk again due to a failure or the like, and the formatting is performed. In this case, the alternate information had disappeared. Therefore, the alternate information that disappeared after reformatting was manually re-registered using the input/output device 6 while referring to the paper list (attached to the magnetic disk). Therefore, this re-registration required a great deal of time and manpower.

Incidentally, large-capacity magnetic disks usually have many defects.

In view of the above-mentioned prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for re-registering alternate information in a magnetic disk device, which enables automatic re-registration of alternate information accompanying reformatting of a magnetic disk. purpose.

ζMeans for Solving Problems> The configuration of the present invention that achieves the above object is such that when reformatting a magnetic disk after formatting and registration of alternate information, which is information regarding replacement sectors, is completed, First, the registered alternate information is read from the magnetic disk and stored in the memory of the disk controller, and then reformatting is performed, and after this reformatting is completed, the alternate information stored in the memory is read out from the magnetic disk. The feature is that information is re-registered.

;Function> According to the present invention having the above configuration, the alternate information on the magnetic disk is retrieved to the memory of the disk controller before reformatting, and is re-registered on the magnetic disk after reformatting is completed.

Practical example Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in the figure, when the reformatting process 11 is started for a magnetic disk for which formatting and alternate information registration processes have been completed, an alternate information saving program 12 is executed, and the alternate information of the magnetic disk is Read disk controller 2
(See FIG. 2). Thereafter, the formatting program 13 is executed to reformat the magnetic disk. When this reformatting is completed, the alternate information writing program 14 is executed, the alternate information stored in the memory 8 is re-registered on the magnetic disk, and the series of operations is completed 15.

This series of programs is stored in the disk control firmware 5 of the disk controller 2, and is automatically executed by the disk control firmware 5.

For comparison, a similar operation according to the prior art will be explained based on FIG. 3. As shown in the figure, immediately after the reformatting process 11 is started, the formatting program 13 is executed. Therefore, the alternate information on the magnetic disk is lost. Therefore, next, the alternate information is created 16 manually, and then the alternate area is written 17. Among these operations, the formatting program 13 and writing to the alternate area 17 are executed by the disk control firmware 5, but the creation of the alternate information must be done manually.

<Effects of the Invention> As specifically explained above in conjunction with the embodiments, according to the present invention, the re-registration of alternate information after reformatting can be automatically performed by the disk control firmware. Not only is the time required for this task significantly reduced, but
Reliability is also improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electronic computer system having a magnetic disk device, and FIG. 3 is a reformatting and alternate information re-registration work according to the prior art. It is a flowchart which shows. In the drawing, 2 is a disk controller, 3 is a magnetic disk device, 5 is disk control firmware, and 7 is alternate information.

Claims (1)

[Claims] When reformatting a magnetic disk after the registration of alternate information, which is information related to formatting and replacement sectors, is completed, the registered alternate information is read from the magnetic disk and stored in the memory of the disk controller, and then reformatted. A method for re-registering alternate information in a magnetic disk device, characterized in that after the reformatting is completed, the alternate information stored in the memory of the magnetic disk is re-registered.