KR20130007182A

KR20130007182A - Methods and devices for operating hard disk drive

Info

Publication number: KR20130007182A
Application number: KR1020110064165A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 김혜진; 이주영
Original assignee: 시게이트 테크놀로지 인터내셔날
Priority date: 2011-06-30
Filing date: 2011-06-30
Publication date: 2013-01-18

Abstract

A read operation method of a hard disk drive is disclosed. The read operation method of the hard disk drive may include receiving a write command from a host, detecting a defect from a sector to which data is to be written during a write operation in response to the write command, and detecting the defect. Reallocating the sector to a spare sector to write the data to the spare sector, and storing the data written to the spare sector in a buffer.

Description

Methods of operating a hard disk drive and devices capable of performing the above methods

Embodiments of the inventive concept relate to a hard disk drive, and more particularly, to operating methods of the hard disk drive that can improve read performance and devices capable of performing the methods.

In hard disk drives (HDDs), defects can be created by scratching during the manufacturing process. Thus, the defective sector cannot be used to write or read data. Therefore, prior to releasing the HDD to the user, the manufacturer generally detects the defect and replaces the sector with the defect with a normal sector.

In addition, a defect can be created in a user environment, for example, after the HDD is shipped to the market. Growth defects occur in the user environment. When the growth defects are generated, the HDD reassigns the sectors in which the growth defects are detected to spare sectors to store data.

When the HDD reads data, the head of the HDD must move to the spare sector to read the data, thereby lowering the read performance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a method of operating a hard disk drive capable of improving data read performance by reading data without disk access to improve read performance of a reallocated sector and performing the methods. It is to provide devices that can.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a write operation method of a hard disk drive may include receiving a write command from a host and detecting whether a sector to which data is written is defective during a write operation in response to the write command. And reassigning the detected sector to a spare sector, writing the data to the spare sector, and storing the data written to the spare sector in a buffer.

The write operation method of the hard disk drive may further include pre-reading data written to the spare sector and storing the data written to the spare sector in the buffer when the hard disk drive is powered on. Include.

The storing of the data written to the spare sector in the buffer may include loading metadata stored in a maintenance cylinder into a volatile memory, and writing the data written in the spare sector with reference to the loaded metadata. Storing data in the buffer.

The metadata includes at least one of a logical block addressing (LBA) address of the sector where the defect is detected, a cylinder head sector (CHS) address of the sector, an offset of the spare sector, and a size of the defect.

The buffer may be implemented in volatile memory.

A read operation method of a hard disk drive according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes receiving a read command from a host and determining whether data to be read is stored in a spare sector and a buffer of the disc in response to the read command. Copying the data stored in the buffer to a buffer memory when the data is stored in the spare sector and the buffer, and storing the data stored in the spare sector without reading the data stored in the spare sector. Reading the data.

The read operation method of the hard disk drive may further include pre-reading the data stored in the spare sector and storing the data in the buffer when the hard disk drive is powered on.

Prereading the data stored in the spare sector and storing the data in the buffer includes loading metadata stored in a maintenance cylinder, and referring to the loaded metadata. Pre-reading the data stored in the sector and storing in the buffer.

In the determining step, the metadata is determined to determine whether the data is stored in the spare sector.

A hard disk drive according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a disk including a plurality of sectors and at least one spare sector, a buffer, and a hard disk controller. The hard disk controller detects a defect from a sector in which data is to be written among the plurality of sectors during a write operation in response to a write command output from a host, and converts the sector from which the defect is detected to the at least one spare sector. Reassignment writes the data to the at least one spare sector and stores the data written to the at least one spare sector in the buffer.

The hard disk controller pre-reads the data written to the at least one spare sector and stores the data in the buffer when the hard disk drive is powered on.

The hard disk controller determines whether the data to be read is stored in the at least one spare sector and the buffer in response to a read command output from the host, and the data is stored in the at least one spare sector and the buffer. The data is copied from the buffer to the buffer memory when stored in and reads the data stored in the buffer memory without reading the data stored in the at least one spare sector.

The hard disk controller loads metadata stored in a maintenance cylinder and determines whether the data has been written to the at least one spare sector by referring to the loaded metadata.

Methods of operating a hard disk drive and devices capable of performing the methods according to an embodiment of the present invention can read the data without disk access when the data is written to the reallocated sector, so that the read can be performed. This has the effect of improving performance.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In order to more fully understand the drawings recited in the detailed description of the present invention, a detailed description of each drawing is provided.
1 is a schematic block diagram of a hard disk drive according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 shows a diagram of any one of the plurality of disks shown in FIG. 1.
3 is a flowchart illustrating a write operation method of a hard disk drive according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a flowchart illustrating a read operation method of a hard disk drive according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a schematic block diagram of a computer system including a hard disk drive according to an embodiment of the present invention.

It is to be understood that the specific structural or functional descriptions of embodiments of the present invention disclosed herein are only for the purpose of illustrating embodiments of the inventive concept, But may be embodied in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments set forth herein.

Embodiments in accordance with the concepts of the present invention are capable of various modifications and may take various forms, so that the embodiments are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail herein. It should be understood, however, that it is not intended to limit the embodiments according to the concepts of the present invention to the particular forms disclosed, but includes all modifications, equivalents, or alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

The terms first, second, etc. may be used to describe various elements, but the elements should not be limited by the terms. The terms are intended to distinguish one element from another, for example, without departing from the scope of the invention in accordance with the concepts of the present invention, the first element may be termed the second element, The second component may also be referred to as a first component.

When a component is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" to another component, it may be directly connected to or connected to that other component, but it may be understood that other components may be present in between. Should be. On the other hand, when an element is referred to as being "directly connected" or "directly connected" to another element, it should be understood that there are no other elements in between. Other expressions describing the relationship between components, such as "between" and "immediately between," or "neighboring to," and "directly neighboring to" should be interpreted as well.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In this specification, the terms "comprises ", or" having ", or the like, specify that there is a stated feature, number, step, operation, , Steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof, as a matter of principle.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries are to be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the meaning of the context in the relevant art and, unless explicitly defined herein, are to be interpreted as ideal or overly formal Do not.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a schematic block diagram of a hard disk drive according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a hard disk drive (HDD) 100 may include a plurality of disks 10, a plurality of heads 12, a head assembly 14, a preamplifier; 16), circuit block 18, motor control block (or servo control block; 30), spindle motor 36, and voice coil motor (VCM) 38; do.

Each of the plurality of disks 10 can store data and is rotated by the spindle motor 36. Each of the plurality of heads 12 is positioned above the corresponding one of the plurality of disks 10 to perform a read operation or a write operation, and the voice coil motor 38 ) Is installed on each of the support arms extending from the head assembly 14 coupled to the plurality of disks 10.

When reading data stored in any one of the plurality of disks 10, the preamplifier 16 amplifies the read signal output from any one of the plurality of heads 12, and outputs the amplified read signal. The read / write channel circuit 20 outputs the read / write channel circuit 20.

When writing data to any one of the plurality of disks 10, the preamplifier 16 outputs a write signal output from the read / write channel circuit 20, for example, a write current, from among the plurality of heads 12. Send to one head. Accordingly, the head may write the write signal to any one of the plurality of discs 10.

The read / write channel circuit 20 converts the read signal amplified by the preamplifier 16 into read data RDATA, and converts the read data RDATA into a hard disc controller (HDC) 22. Output The read / write channel circuit 20 also converts the write data WDATA output from the HDC 22 into a write signal and outputs the write signal to the preamplifier 16.

When writing data to any one of the plurality of disks 10, the HDC 22 outputs write data output from the host to the read / write channel circuit 20 under the control of the CPU 24. Therefore, the write data output from the host is any one of the plurality of disks 10 through the head of any one of the read / write channel circuit 20, the preamplifier 16, and the plurality of heads 12. Can be written to the disk.

When writing data to any one of the plurality of disks 10, if a scratch occurs in the disk of the HDD 100, a write error may occur. When the write error occurs, the HDD 100 performs a write retry operation.

The write retry operation is repeatedly executed until the write error does not occur or reaches a predetermined number of times. When the error is not corrected until a specific retry operation or a predetermined number of times during the write retry operation is reached, the HDC 22 determines that a defect is generated in the sector to which the data is to be written.

When the HDC 22 detects the defect from the sector to write the data, the method of writing the data is described in detail with reference to Figs.

When reading data from any of the plurality of discs 10, the HDC 22 receives the read data RDATA decoded by the read / write channel circuit 20 under the control of the CPU 24. The received read data RDATA may be transmitted to the host through an interface.

The CPU 24 reads a control code or a boot code stored in a read only memory (ROM) 26 and stores it in the RAM 28, and based on the control code or boot code stored in the RAM 28. The overall operation of the HDD 100 or the HDC 22 may be controlled. Therefore, the CPU 24 may control the read operation or the write operation of the HDD 100.

Random access memory (RAM) 28 may be implemented as volatile memory. For example, the RAM 28 may be implemented as a dynamic random access memory (RAM) or a static RAM (SRAM).

A portion of the RAM 28 may be used as a buffer 27 for temporarily storing data output from any one of the plurality of disks 10.

The CPU 24 receives a read command or a write command output from the host through an interface connected to the bus, and controls the track seek or track following according to the received command. The operation of the servo controller capable of controlling the driver 32 and the VCM driver 34 may be controlled.

The spindle motor driver 32 controls the operation of the spindle motor 36 that controls the rotation of the plurality of disks 10 in response to a control signal output from the HDC 22.

The VCM driver 34 generates a driving current for driving the voice coil motor 38 in response to a control signal for position control of each of the plurality of heads 12 output from the HDC 22 and generates the voice coil motor. Output to the voice coil of (38).

Accordingly, the voice coil motor 38 includes a plurality of heads 12 in which data to be read from among the plurality of disks 10 is recorded according to the direction and level of the driving current output from the VCM driver 34. Move up the track embodied in any one of the discs 10. Any one of the plurality of heads 12 moved by the voice coil motor 38 is a plurality of disks 10 under the control of the HDC 22 or the control signal output from the read / write channel circuit 20. ) Outputs the position information recorded on any one of the amplifiers) to the preamplifier 16.

When any one of the plurality of heads 12 moves to a target track of any of the plurality of disks 10 to be read, the disk formatter (not shown) of the HDC 22 may output a servo gate signal. Output to the read / write channel circuit 20 is performed.

The read / write channel 20 reads a servo pattern recorded on each of the plurality of disks 10 in response to the servo gate signal.

The buffer memory 29 may temporarily store data exchanged between the HDD 100 and the host. According to another embodiment, the buffer memory 29 may be implemented outside the circuit block 18.

According to an embodiment, the circuit block 18, which includes the read / write channel circuit 20, the HDC 22, the CPU 24, the ROM 26, and the RAM 28, may be a single chip such as an SoC ( System on Chip). In addition, the motor control block 30 including the spindle motor driver 32 and the VCM driver 34 may be implemented as one chip, for example, an SoC.

FIG. 2 shows a diagram of any one of the plurality of disks shown in FIG. 1.

1 and 2, the disc 101 includes a plurality of tracks T1 to Tn (n is a natural number) and a maintenance cylinder MC. For example, the track T3 includes a plurality of sectors 103, 105, 107,..., And 109, respectively, for storing data D1, D2, D3,..., And Dn output from the host. do.

When writing the data D1, D2, D3, ... and Dn to the disc 101, the HDC 22 outputs data D1, D2, D3, ... from the host under the control of the CPU 24. And Dn) are output to the read / write channel circuit 20. Accordingly, the data D1, D2, D3, ..., and Dn output from the host may be any one of the read / write channel circuit 20, the preamplifier 16, and the plurality of heads 12. Can be written to a plurality of sectors 103, 105, 107,..., And 109 of the disc 101.

When writing the data D1 to the sector 105 of the disk 101 after writing the data D1 to the sector 103 of the disk 101, a write error may occur in the sector 105 by scratching. have.

When the write error occurs, the HDD 100 performs a write retry operation. As a result of performing the write retry operation, when the write error is not corrected, the HDC 22 determines that a defect has occurred in the sector 105.

The HDC 22 reassigns the sector 105 to a spare sector 111 under the control of the CPU 24 and writes the data D2 to the spare sector 111.

The HDC 22 stores the metadata regarding the data D2 in the maintenance cylinder MC. The metadata for the data D2 includes a logical block addressing (LBA) address of the sector 105 from which the defect is detected, a cylinder head sector (CHS) address of the sector 105, and an offset of the spare sector 111. ), And at least one of the size of the defect.

When writing the data D3 to the sector 107 of the disc 101, a write error may occur. At this time, the HDD 100 performs a write retry operation. As a result of performing the write retry operation, when the write error is not corrected, the HDC 22 detects a defect in the sector 107.

Similarly, HDC 22 reallocates sector 107 to spare sector 113 under the control of CPU 24 to write data D3 to spare sector 113. The HDC 22 stores the metadata for the data D3 in the maintenance cylinder MC.

When reading the respective data D2 and D3, any one head of the plurality of heads 12 corresponding to the disc 101 moves from each sector 105 and 107 to each spare sector 111 and 113. do. Therefore, time loss occurs in the HDD 100, which may cause performance degradation of the HDD 100.

Accordingly, the HDC 22 stores the data D2 or D3 written in each spare sector 111 or 113 in the buffer 27 by referring to the metadata stored in the maintenance cylinder MC.

According to an embodiment, when the HDD 100 is powered on, metadata stored in the maintenance cylinder MC is moved or loaded into the RAM 28.

The HDD 100 pre-reads each data D2 or D3 written in each spare sector 111 or 113 with reference to metadata moved or loaded in the RAM 28 to buffer 27. Store in

When reading the respective data D1, D2, D3, ..., and Dn in response to the read command output from the host, the HDD 100 reads each data D2 or D3 in each spare sector 111 or 113. Each data D2 or D3 can be read directly from the buffer memory 29 without reading. The HDD 100 reads each data D2 or D3 from the buffer memory 29 instead of each spare sector 111 or 113, thereby improving read performance of the HDD 100.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a write operation method of a hard disk drive according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

1 to 3, the HDD 100 receives a write command and data D1, D2, D3,..., And Dn from a host (S10). The HDD 100 performs a write operation of writing the data D1, D2, D3,..., And Dn to the disk 101 in response to the write command.

When there are defects in each of the plurality of sectors 105 and 107 of the disk 101, the HDD 100 may detect the defects in each sector 105 and 107 during the write operation (S20). .

The HDD 100 reallocates each sector 105 and 107 from which the defect is detected to each spare sector 111 and 113 and writes each data D2 and D3 to each spare sector 111 and 113 ( S30).

The HDD 100 stores metadata about the data D2 and D3 on the disk 101. For example, the HDD 100 may store the metadata for each data D2 and D3 in the maintenance cylinder MC.

The metadata may include at least one of an LBA address of each sector 105 and 107 from which the defect is detected, a CHS address of each sector 105 and 107, an offset of each spare sector 111 and 113, and a size of each defect. It includes.

The HDD 100 stores each data D2 and D3 written in each spare sector 111 and 113 in the buffer 27 with reference to metadata stored in the maintenance cylinder MC (S40).

According to an embodiment, when the HDD 100 is powered on, the HDD 100 loads the metadata stored in the maintenance cylinder MC into the RAM 28. The HDD 100 may store the data D2 and D3 written in each spare sector 111 and 113 in the buffer 27 with reference to metadata loaded in the RAM 28.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a read operation method of a hard disk drive according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

1 to 4, the HDD 100 receives a read command output from a host (S50).

The HDD 100 stores data D1, D2, D3, ..., and Dn to be read by referring to metadata loaded in the RAM 28 in each of the spare sectors 111 and 113 and the buffer 27. It is determined whether it is written (S60).

When the defects are detected from the respective sectors 105 and 107 in which the respective data D2 and D3 are to be written, the respective data D2 and D3 are stored in the respective spare sectors 111 and 113 and the buffer 27.

The HDD 100 copies the data D2 and D3 from the buffer 27 to the buffer memory 29 by referring to the metadata loaded in the RAM 28 (S70).

The HDD 100 reads the data D2 and D3 from the buffer memory 29 without reading from the spare sectors 111 and 113 (S80).

That is, the HDD 100 can improve the read performance of the HDD 100 by reading the data D2 and D3 from the buffer memory 29 without reading the respective data D2 and D3 from the spare sectors 111 and 113.

When it is determined by the HDD 100 that each data D1 and Dn written to each normal sector 103 and 109 is not stored in the spare sector, the HDD 100 determines that each normal sector ( Data D1 and Dn are read out from 103 and 109 (S90).

According to an embodiment, each data D1 and Dn written to the normal angular sectors 103 and 109 may also be stored in the buffer memory 29.

5 is a schematic block diagram of a computer system including a hard disk drive according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1 to 5, the data storage system 200 includes all of CE (consumer equipment) capable of processing or storing data. For example, the CE may be a hard disk drive recorder (HDD recorder), a mobile phone, a smartphone, a tablet PC, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a computer (eg, a PC, a laptop computer, etc.), a navigator device. , A home automatic system, a music player (MP3 player), a camcorder (camcorder), a video player (such as a DVIX player), a storage server, or a portable multimedia player (PMP).

The data storage system 200 includes an HDD 100 and a processor 210 connected to each other via a system bus 202. The HDD 100 and the processor 210 may perform data communication according to an Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) communication protocol or a Serial ATA (SATA) communication protocol.

The processor 210 may control the overall operation of the HDD 100, for example, a write operation or a read operation.

When each data D2 and D3 to be read is stored in each spare sector 111 and 113 and the buffer memory 29 of the disk 101, the HDD 100 stores each data D2 and D3 in each spare. The read performance of the HDD 100 can be improved by reading the respective data D2 and D3 stored in the buffer memory 29 without reading in the sectors 111 and 113.

The data storage system 200 may further include a first interface 220. The first interface 220 may be an input / output interface. The input / output interface may be an output device such as a monitor or a printer, or an input device such as a mouse or a keyboard.

The data storage system 200 may further include a second interface 230. The second interface 230 may be a wireless communication interface for wireless communication with the external storage system.

Accordingly, the second interface 230 may wirelessly transmit data stored in the HDD 100 to an external storage system or transmit data transmitted from the external storage system to the HDD 100 under the control of the processor 210.

When the data storage system 200 is implemented as a hybrid HDD, the data storage system 200 may further include a non-volatile memory device. The processor 210 may store data in the HDD 100 or the nonvolatile memory device according to a data storage policy.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to one embodiment shown in the drawings, this is merely exemplary, and those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible therefrom. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the technical spirit of the appended claims.

100: hard disk drive 101: disk
10: a plurality of disks 103, 105, and 107: sector
12: plurality of heads 111 and 113: spare sector
14: head assembly 200: data storage system
16: preamplifier 202: system bus
18: circuit block 210: processor
30: motor control block 220: first interface
36: spindle motor 230: second interface
38: voice coil motor

Claims

Receiving a write command from a host;
Detecting whether a sector to which data is written is defective while a write operation is performed in response to the write command;
Reallocating the detected sector to a spare sector and writing the data to the spare sector; And
And storing data written to the spare sector in a buffer.

The method of claim 1, wherein the write operation of the hard disk drive comprises:
When the hard disk drive is powered on, pre-reading data written to the spare sector and storing the data written in the spare sector in the buffer. .

The method of claim 1, wherein storing the data written to the spare sector in a buffer comprises:
Loading metadata stored in a maintenance cylinder into volatile memory; And
And storing data written to the spare sector in the buffer with reference to the loaded metadata.

The method of claim 3, wherein the metadata,
A write operation of a hard disk drive including at least one of a logical block addressing (LBA) address of the sector where the defect is detected, a cylinder head sector (CHS) address of the sector, an offset of the spare sector, and a size of the defect Way.

Receiving a read command from a host;
In response to the read command, determining whether data to be read is stored in a spare sector and a buffer of a disc;
Copying the data stored in the buffer into a buffer memory when the data is stored in the spare sector and the buffer; And
And reading the data stored in the buffer memory without reading the data stored in the spare sector.

The method of claim 5, wherein the read operation method of the hard disk drive comprises:
And when the hard disk drive is powered on, prereading the data stored in the spare sector and storing the data in the buffer.

The method of claim 6, wherein the pre-reading of the data stored in the spare sector and storing the data in the buffer comprises:
Loading metadata stored in a maintenance cylinder; And
And reading and storing the data stored in the spare sector in the buffer with reference to the loaded metadata.

A disk comprising a plurality of sectors and at least one spare sector;
buffer; And
During a write operation in response to a write command output from the host, a defect is detected from a sector to which data is written among the plurality of sectors, and the reallocated sector is detected as the at least one spare sector. And a hard disk controller that writes the at least one spare sector to the buffer and stores data written to the at least one spare sector in the buffer.

The method of claim 8, wherein the hard disk controller,
And when the hard disk drive is powered on, pre-reads the data written to the at least one spare sector and stores the data in the buffer.

The method of claim 8, wherein the hard disk controller,
In response to a read command output from the host, it is determined whether the data to be read is stored in the at least one spare sector and the buffer, and when the data is stored in the at least one spare sector and the buffer. Copying the data from the buffer into a buffer memory and reading the data stored in the buffer memory without reading the data stored in the at least one spare sector.