WO2014091629A1

WO2014091629A1 - Storage-device management program, and management method for electronic device and storage device

Info

Publication number: WO2014091629A1
Application number: PCT/JP2012/082560
Authority: WO
Inventors: 福生高尾
Original assignee: 富士通株式会社
Priority date: 2012-12-14
Filing date: 2012-12-14
Publication date: 2014-06-19
Also published as: JPWO2014091629A1

Abstract

This storage-device management program causes a computer to execute: a step for receiving a region selection from a first region to which a first disk format included in the storage unit of a storage device is applied, and a second region to which a second disk format is applied; and a region-changing step for changing the standard for the physical location in the storage unit accessed by the control unit of the storage device, on the basis of the selected region.

Description

Storage device management program, electronic device, and storage device management method

The present invention relates to a storage device management program, an electronic device, and a storage device management method.

There is a technique that allows a user to divide a single storage device (for example, a hard disk drive (HDD)) into partitions that are logical areas and use it as a plurality of virtual storage devices. . There is also a technology that allows a user to install a different operating system (OS: Operating System, basic software) in each of a plurality of partitions and select an OS to be started.

JP 2002-108568 A JP 2000-181633 A

Incidentally, there are a plurality of standards for the method of managing the partition of the HDD (in other words, the disk format of the HDD). However, in the conventional method, there is a problem that the computer cannot use, for example, by switching an area to which a different disk format is applied in the same HDD.

Therefore, the disclosed technique aims to switch and use areas to which different disk formats are applied in the same storage device.

One aspect of the disclosed technology is a storage device management program. The storage device management program uses a region of the first region to which the first disk format is applied and the second region to which the second disk format is applied, which is included in the storage unit of the storage device. And a region changing step for changing a physical position reference in the storage unit, which is accessed by the control unit of the storage device, based on the selected region.

According to the disclosed technology, it is possible to switch and use areas to which different disk formats are applied in the same storage device.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a disk configuration of a computer adopting the MBR method. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a disk configuration of a computer adopting the GPT method. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a disk configuration according to the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the electronic device according to the embodiment. FIG. 5 is an example of a functional block diagram of the HDD. FIG. 6 is an example of a functional block diagram of the flash ROM. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a menu screen related to the disk allocation process. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a processing flow of activation processing. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a boot menu. FIG. 10A is a schematic diagram showing the entire HDD. FIG. 10B is a diagram for explaining the HDD whose firmware has been rewritten. FIG. 10C is a diagram for explaining the HDD whose firmware has been rewritten. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a processing flow of activation processing. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a boot menu. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of the processing flow of the startup process. FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of normal disk access processing. FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of a disk access process according to the embodiment.

Hereinafter, an electronic device according to an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. The configuration of the following embodiment is an exemplification, and the electronic apparatus is not limited to the configuration of the embodiment.

[Conventional partition management method]
As a method for managing the partition of the HDD, for example, a method using a master boot record (MBR) (hereinafter referred to as an MBR method), a GUID partition table (GPT: Globally Unique Identifier) Partition Table ) (Hereinafter referred to as GPT method). If the partition management method is different, the HDD format (disk format) is also different.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a disk configuration of a computer adopting the MBR method. In the schematic diagram of FIG. 1, it is assumed that the serial numbers assigned to the cylinders, heads, and sectors of the CHS system or the serial numbers assigned to the sectors of the LBA (Logical Block Addressing) system increase from the left side to the right side. . The disk configuration of FIG. 1 includes an MBR, a partition table, an OS recovery environment, a reserved area by the system, a system drive in which the OS is installed, and a work drive partitioned for data. The partition table may be included in the MBR. Further, the HDD may not include some of the above-described components such as an OS recovery environment and a work drive. In addition, the HDD may include three or more basic areas such as a system drive and a work drive, and may include an extension area in the basic area.

The MBR present at the head of the disk is a boot program (for example, IPL (Initial Program Load), boot loader, bootstrap loader) that is read by the BIOS (Basic Input / Output System) or UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) after the computer is started. (Hereinafter also referred to as a boot program). The MBR includes a partition table that holds information representing logical partitions of the HDD, and a disk signature. The partition table includes a start flag (active flag) indicating whether to start from the partition, a partition start position and end position in the CHS (Cylinder Head Sector) method, a partition start sector number and a partition Includes information such as capacity. Then, the boot program loads the boot sector of the partition whose activation flag is active in the partition table to the memory, and passes control. Thereafter, the OS is started by chain loading, kernel loading, or the like. That is, a program existing in the boot sector of the corresponding partition loads the OS boot program into the memory, and the OS boot program starts the OS installed in the partition.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a disk configuration of a computer adopting the GPT method. Also in the schematic diagram shown in FIG. 2, the serial numbers assigned to the cylinders, heads, and sectors of the CHS system or the serial numbers assigned to the sectors of the LBA system increase from the left side to the right side. 2 includes an MBR, a first GPT entry, an OS recovery environment, a reserved area by the system, a system drive in which the OS is installed, a work drive partitioned for data, and a second GPT entry. It is out. Note that the HDD may not include some of the above components such as an OS recovery environment and a work drive. Further, there may be two or more system drives or work drives.

The MBR existing at the head of the disk includes information indicating that the disk is formatted by the GPT method. When this information is read by a disk utility based on MBR, for example, a situation where the disk utility determines that the disk is unused is prevented. Further, the HDD has partition configuration information called a first GPT entry after the MBR. The GPT entry holds a GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) representing each partition. There are two GPT entries in the disk. The second GPT entry exists for backup, and when the computer finds inconsistencies in the two GPT entries, it copies the contents of the second GPT entry to the first GPT entry. In the case of the GPT method, for example, the UEFI displays a boot menu held in NVRAM (Non Volatile RAM), and the OS boot program of the system partition starts the OS installed in the selected partition.

[Support by OS]
Depending on the OS specifications, different OSs (or different versions of the same OS) may support different partition management methods. For example, in Windows (registered trademark), a specific version or later of a 64-bit version (x64 version) can be booted from a GPT type HDD using an EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface). However, in the case of the 32-bit version (x86 version) of Windows, a GPT type partition can be accessed in some versions, but it cannot be started from a GPT type HDD. In the case of a UNIX (registered trademark) OS, there is a version that can be booted from a GPT-type HDD using BIOS as well as EFI.

Also, as described above, the GPT method has an MBR for so-called backward compatibility. This is to prevent an accident in which, for example, the computer cannot recognize the existence of data by the GPT method and the HDD is determined to be unused and the contents are erased. The MBR is not used at startup in the GPT method. In other words, the purpose is not to mix the MBR method and the GPT method in one HDD. According to the standard, the conventional boot method indicates that the entire HDD has a disk format based on one of the partition management methods. It is assumed. Therefore, for example, when a dual boot system is constructed with an OS that supports only one partition management method and an OS that supports only the other partition management method, it can be realized using physically different HDDs. However, it cannot be realized by providing a plurality of areas in one HDD.

[Limitation of HDD capacity based on MBR size]
In the partition management system, there is a difference in the upper limit of the storage capacity that can be managed due to the size of the partition table. For example, when using a 2-bit LBA, the number of sectors that can be managed by MBR is 32 ^32. For example, if the sector length is 512 bytes as in a general PC / AT compatible machine, the upper limit of the capacity that can be managed is about 2.2 (512 * 2 ³² ) TB (Terabyte). Therefore, even when an HDD having a capacity exceeding 2.2 TB is physically used, the usable capacity is limited to 2.2 TB or less when the MBR disk format is adopted. The problem of such a capacity wall is not limited to the MBR method.

[Area management method according to this embodiment]
FIG. 3 shows an example of a disk configuration according to this embodiment. Also in FIG. 3, the left end represents the head of the disk, and the serial numbers assigned to the cylinders, heads and sectors of the CHS system or the serial numbers assigned to the sectors of the LBA system increase toward the right side. The disk configuration in FIG. 3 includes a first area and a second area. That is, the disk configuration of FIG. 3 includes the MBR format disk configuration shown in FIG. 1 and the GPT format disk configuration shown in FIG. Therefore, the first area and the second area are different in partition management system and disk format.

Specifically, the disk configuration in FIG. 3 includes an MBR system area and a GPT system area. The MBR area includes an MBR, a partition table, an OS recovery environment, a reserved area by the system, a system drive in which the OS is installed, and a work drive partitioned for data. The GPT area includes an MBR, a first GPT entry, an OS recovery environment, a system reserved area, a system drive in which the OS is installed, a work drive partitioned for data, and a second GPT entry. The partition table may be included in the MBR. In the example of FIG. 3, for convenience, the boundary between the MBR region and the GPT region is indicated by a broken line. The HDD may not include some components such as an OS recovery environment and a work drive. Further, there may be two or more system drives or work drives.

In the present embodiment, the MBR system area and the GPT system area shown in FIG. 3 are switched as two virtual disks (hereinafter also referred to as virtual disks) after the computer is started. In this embodiment, the firmware for booting the computer, such as BIOS and UEFI, rewrites the firmware of the HDD. By rewriting the firmware of the HDD, the computer can recognize either the MBR system area or the GPT system area (hereinafter also referred to as a virtual disk). In other words, the computer can switch between areas included in the same storage device and to which different disk formats are applied.

Therefore, for example, the computer stores an OS that supports the MBR method and an OS that supports the GPT method in one HDD, and can realize multi-boot. Further, the computer may allocate 2.2 TB or less of the HDD having a capacity exceeding 2.2 TB to the MBR system area, and allocate the rest to the area using another system. Even when the computer wants to use both the HDD having the capacity exceeding 2.2 TB and the MBR system, the capacity of the HDD can be used without waste. Hereinafter, a specific hardware configuration and details of processing to be executed will be described.

[Hardware configuration of this embodiment]
FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a hardware configuration of a computer (also referred to as an electronic device) according to this embodiment. A computer 1 in FIG. 4 is a general PC (Personal Computer), and includes a CPU 11, a north bridge (Chipset (North Bridge)) 12, a graphic board slot (Graphic) 13, a memory slot (Memory) 14, A south bridge (Chipset (South Bridge)) 15, an HDD 16, a flash ROM (Flash ROM) 17, a user I / F (Interface) 18, an NVRAM 19, and a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) 20 are included. The north bridge 12 is connected to the CPU 11, the graphic board slot 13, the memory slot 14, and the south bridge 15 by a bus. The south bridge 15 is connected to the north bridge 12, HDD 16, flash ROM 17, user I / F 18, NVRAM 19, and CMOS 20 via a bus.

The CPU 11 is connected to each piece of hardware included in the computer 1 via a chipset, and performs processing for operating the BIOS, UEFI, and OS. The north bridge 12 controls the CPU 11, the graphic board connected to the graphic board slot 13, the memory connected to the memory slot 14, and the like. The graphic board slot 13 outputs video to a display or the like via the graphic board. The memory 14 temporarily holds data processed by the CPU 11, for example.

The south bridge 15 controls the HDD 16, the flash ROM 17, the user I / F 18, the NVRAM 19, and the CMOS 20. The HDD 16 is a general auxiliary storage device, and includes a disk for storing data (also referred to as a platter), a magnetic head for reading and writing data on the disk, an HDD controller for storing firmware for controlling the operation of the HDD, and the like. The flash ROM 17 stores BIOS or UEFI that performs processing for rewriting the firmware of the HDD in the present embodiment. The BIOS or UEFI is read by the CPU 11 after the computer is started. The user I / F 18 is a port connected to a keyboard, a mouse, and the like, and accepts user operations. The NVRAM 19 is a non-volatile RAM that holds a UEFI boot menu and the like. The CMOS 20 is a storage area that is readable and writable from the BIOS and UEFI, and holds hardware setting information. In the present embodiment, the CMOS 20 also holds virtual disk setting data and information used for rewriting HDD firmware.

The hardware configuration as described above is an example, and the south bridge 15 may be further connected to a PCI slot, an optical drive device, a USB port, a LAN port, a sound port, or the like. Further, the CPU 11 or the chip set can also serve as a graphic controller. Further, for example, a hardware configuration in which the CPU 11 and the memory slot 14 are connected by a bus without including a chip set corresponding to the north bridge may be employed.

Next, details of the functions of the HDD 16 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 shows an example of a functional block diagram of the HDD 16. The HDD 16 includes a control unit 161 and a storage unit 162. The controller 161 is an HDD controller, for example, and includes a microcontroller that stores firmware. The storage unit 162 includes a disk (platter) for storing information and a magnetic header for reading and writing information. The control unit 161 controls the magnetic head of the storage unit 162 to read information on the disk and write information on the disk. The firmware of the control unit 161 receives an I / O request to the disk via the OS or driver software, and corresponds to an address included in the request (for example, an offset indicating a relative position from a predetermined reference position). Then, access is made to a physical position (for example, an actual sector) of the storage unit 162 on the disk.

Next, details of the flash ROM 17 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, the flash ROM 17 holds BIOS or UEFI. The BIOS or UEFI includes an area rewriting unit 171 and a boot processing unit 172. The area rewriting unit 171 accepts selection of a virtual disk to be operated based on a user operation, and updates the firmware stored in the control unit 161 of the HDD 16 according to the selected virtual disk. The boot processing unit 172 performs normal boot processing. That is, the boot processing unit 172 performs chain loading. The CPU 11 causes the computer 1 to function as the area rewriting unit 171 and the boot processing unit 172 by executing BIOS or UEFI that is firmware held in the flash ROM 17.

[Area setting processing]
Next, processing for setting the virtual disk area by the user will be described. The user sets the effective area (for example, the start position and capacity) of the virtual disk in advance. If a process for performing such setting is prepared as a function such as BIOS or UEFI, the user can perform the setting process based on a menu such as BIOS or UEFI.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a BIOS or UEFI menu screen for performing disk allocation processing. The screen shown in FIG. 7 is represented by a rectangle that represents the total capacity of the HDD in the length in the horizontal axis direction and an arrow that indicates bidirectional in the horizontal axis direction, and is a partition that divides the HDD into virtual disk 1 and virtual disk 2 A symbol and an “OK” button for determining setting contents are displayed. The user can specify the area to be allocated to each virtual disk, for example, by moving the separator symbol left and right with the mouse. For example, a numerical value indicating the capacity of each virtual disk may be input. Further, the number of virtual disks may be three or more.

When the “OK” button is pressed on the screen of FIG. 7, the CPU 11 causes the CMOS 20 or the NVRAM 19 that is a writable area of the BIOS or the UEFI to hold the setting. For example, the CMOS 20 or the NVRAM 19 holds data indicating the start position and capacity of each region.

In the example of FIG. 7, the HDD is divided into a virtual disk 1 and a virtual disk 2 at a position of 500 GB from the top. Therefore, the start position of the virtual disk 1 is the head of the HDD, the capacity of the virtual disk 1 is 500 GB, the start position of the virtual disk 2 is the position of 500 GB from the head of the HDD, and the virtual disk The information indicating that the capacity of 2 is 1000 GB is held. Further, a signature for specifying the HDD may be held so that the HDD can be specified. In addition, an entry that UEFI displays in the startup menu at the time of booting may be recorded in NVRAM. For example, the entry includes a GUID corresponding to the GPT entry of the HDD.

More specifically, for example, the following information is held.
<Example of virtual disk configuration data>
Harddisk Signature: 5289EC1F
VirtualDisk1 Start: 0x000000000000 Size: 0x007CFFFFFFFF
VirtualDisk2 Start: 0x007d00000000 Size: 0x00F9FFFFFFFF

“Harddisk Signature” represents the signature of the HDD. The signature allows the computer to identify the HDD. Note that the HDD may be identified using, for example, DISK0, DISK1,... Using the port number to which the storage device is connected. Further, “Start” of “VirtualDisk1” and “VirtualDisk2” represents the start position of the virtual disk 1 and virtual disk 2, and “Size” represents the capacity.

[Example 1 of Region Selection Processing]
Next, the startup process of the computer 1 in the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 8 shows an example of the processing flow of the startup process executed by the BIOS. First, for example, when the computer 1 is turned on by a user, the BIOS is activated based on a predetermined process (FIG. 8: S1). Here, CPU11 reads BIOS by the existing starting procedure. Specifically, the CPU 11 initializes an internal cache, a register, and the like, reads a predetermined memory address, and reads a BIOS. Hereinafter, the subject of the operation performed by the CPU 11 based on the BIOS is referred to as the BIOS, the area rewriting unit 171 or the boot processing unit 172.

Then, the BIOS boot processing unit 172 initializes the hardware (S2). In this step, for example, the BIOS detects, initializes, and sets peripheral devices (graphics, memory, user I / F, HDD, other ports, etc.). Specifically, the BIOS executes POST (Power On Self にする Test) to enable the peripheral device.

Then, the boot processing unit 172 displays a boot menu on a display or the like connected via the graphic board (S3). The boot menu is a menu that allows the user to select a boot drive that stores a program for starting the system and a device (for example, a CD / DVD / BD drive) that reads a boot medium that stores the program for starting the system. is there.

Here, the boot processing unit 172 displays an entry indicating a virtual disk, an optical media drive connected to the computer 1, and the like, which are held in the CMOS 20 in the area setting process described above as options. For example, a boot menu as shown in FIG. 9 is displayed. In the example of FIG. 9, “1.Drive0 HDD: MHZ2160BH virtual HDD1”, “2.Drive0 HDD: MHZ2160BH virtual HDD2”, “3.CD/DVD Drive: DVD-RAM UJ892AS” and “4.NETWORK: The option “GE Slot 00C8 V1363” is displayed.

Thereafter, the computer 1 accepts a boot menu selection from the user via the user I / F, and the BIOS boot processing unit 172 determines which option has been selected. First, the boot processing unit 172 determines whether the virtual disk 1 is selected by the user (S4). If it is determined that the virtual disk 1 is selected (S4: YES), the BIOS area rewriting unit 171 rewrites the control unit 161 of the HDD 16 (S5). Here, the area rewriting unit 171 rewrites the firmware held in the control unit 161 using the virtual disk setting data held in the CMOS 20.

Specifically, the physical position reference when the control unit 161 of the HDD 16 accesses the storage unit 162 is changed. That is, the control unit 161 of the HDD 16 shifts information indicating a physical position reference when accessing the storage unit 162 based on the I / O request. The area rewriting unit 171 may further change information indicating the capacity of the storage unit 162 accessible by the control unit 161. The virtual disk setting data held in the CMOS 20 is data indicating the starting position and capacity of the virtual disk set in advance by the user in the area setting process.

Here, a process of rewriting the HDD firmware and shifting the actual physical access destination corresponding to the address will be described with reference to FIGS. 10A to 10C. FIG. 10A is a schematic diagram showing the entire HDD divided into the virtual disk 1 and the virtual disk 2. A numerical value written outside the rectangle representing the HDD represents the number of bytes from the head of the HDD. The numerical values in FIG. 10A indicate the actual number of physical bytes.

FIG. 10B is a diagram for explaining the HDD in which the virtual disk 1 is selected in the boot menu and the firmware is rewritten. When the virtual disk 1 is selected, by rewriting the firmware of the HDD, the address indicating the start position of the HDD is associated with the physical position indicating the start position of the area to which the virtual disk 1 is allocated. In the example of FIG. 10B, the address 0x0 indicating the start position of the virtual disk 1 is the 0x0 byte in the actual HDD (FIG. 10A). That is, when the virtual disk 1 is selected, the magnitude of shifting the physical access destination is zero.

Also, the size of the entire HDD is rewritten to the size of the virtual disk 1. In the example of FIG. 10B, the size of the virtual disk 1 is 0x7C00000000 bytes. As described above, by rewriting the firmware, the OS recognizes the area allocated to the virtual disk 1 in the actual HDD as the entire HDD.

FIG. 10C is a diagram for explaining the HDD in which the virtual disk 2 is selected and the firmware is rewritten. When virtual disk 2 is selected, the address indicating the start position of the HDD is associated with the physical address indicating the start position of virtual disk 2 by rewriting the firmware of the HDD. In the example of FIG. 10C, the address 0x0 indicating the start position of the virtual disk 2 is the 0x7D00000000 byte in the actual HDD (FIG. 10A). In other words, by rewriting the firmware of the HDD, the HDD control unit 161 accesses the position where the address (offset) specified in the I / O request to the disk is shifted by + 0x7D00000000 bytes.

Also, the size of the entire HDD is rewritten to the size of the virtual disk 2. In the example of FIG. 10C, the size of the virtual disk 2 is 0xFA00000000 bytes. As described above, by rewriting the firmware, the OS recognizes the area allocated to the virtual disk 2 in the actual HDD as the entire HDD.

Returning to the description of FIG. 8, after the BIOS area rewriting unit 171 rewrites the control unit 161 of the HDD 16, the computer 1 recognizes the HDD again (S6). Thereby, the computer 1 recognizes the virtual disk 1 as the entire HDD. Thereafter, the process proceeds to S10.

On the other hand, when it is determined in S4 that the virtual disk 1 is not selected (S4: NO), the boot processing unit 172 determines whether the virtual disk 2 is selected by the user (S7). When it is determined that the virtual disk 2 is selected (S7: YES), the area rewriting unit 171 rewrites the control unit 161 of the HDD 16 (S8). In S8, the same process as S5 is performed. As shown in FIG. 10C, the physical start position (address) of the HDD and the size of the HDD are changed in the firmware. Thereafter, the computer 1 recognizes the HDD again (S9). The process of S9 is the same as the process of S6. Thereafter, the process proceeds to S10.

After S6 or S9, or when it is determined in S7 that the virtual disk 2 has not been selected (S7: NO), the computer 1 starts a normal boot sequence (S10). Here, for example, the OS installed in the virtual disk 1 or the virtual disk 2 is activated by the existing boot sequence. For example, when the user selects activation from the optical drive in the boot menu, the process proceeds to S10 via an arrow from “S7: NO”, and booting from the optical medium is started according to a normal boot sequence. Is done.

[Example 2 of area selection processing]
Although the activation by the BIOS has been described in FIG. 8, processing including UEFI will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 11 is an example of a processing flow of activation processing executed by the BIOS or UEFI. Note that the processing of S21 to S30 in FIG. 11 is basically the same as the processing of S1 to S10 in FIG.

UEFI is different from BIOS in that an entry (also referred to as a boot entry) held in the NVRAM 19 of the computer 1 is displayed on the startup menu. In S23, for example, a boot menu as shown in FIG. 12 is displayed on the display or the like. In the example of FIG. 12, the screen displays “1.Drive0 HDD: MHZ2160BH virtual HDD1”, “2.Drive0 HDD: 2MHZ2160BH virtual HDD2”, “3.CD/DVD Drive: JDVD-RAM」 UJ892AS ”,“ 4.NETWORK: The options “GE Slot 00C8 V1363” and “5. Boot Manager” are displayed.

If it is determined in S27 that the virtual disk 2 is not selected (S27: NO), the process proceeds to S31 in FIG. Then, the UEFI boot processing unit 172 executed by the CPU 11 determines whether the user has selected a UEFI boot entry in the boot menu (S31). When it is determined that the UEFI boot entry has been selected (S31: YES), the boot processing unit 172 has the GUID stored in association with the selected boot entry in the GPT entry of any virtual disk. (S32). Here, the boot processing unit 172 reads the GUID stored in association with the entry selected by the user among the boot entries held in the NVRAM 19, and the read GUID is a virtual that employs the GPT method. A search is performed to determine whether the disk exists in the GUID partition table (for example, the first GPT entry in FIG. 3).

If it is determined that the corresponding GUID does not exist (S32: NO), the process returns to S23 of FIG. On the other hand, when it is determined that the corresponding GUID exists in the GPT entry (S32: YES), the UEFI area rewriting unit 171 rewrites the control unit 161 of the HDD 16 (S33). Here, the area rewriting unit 171 rewrites the firmware held in the control unit 161 of the HDD 16 using the virtual disk setting data held in the NVRAM 19 or the CMOS 20. Specifically, in response to an I / O request to the HDD 16, the physical position where the control unit 161 actually accesses is shifted. The virtual disk setting data stored in the NVRAM 19 or the CMOS 20 is data set in advance by the user in the area setting process.

The process of S33 is the same as the process described with reference to FIGS. 10A to 10C. That is, the UEFI area rewriting unit 171 identifies the GPT in which the boot entry selected by the user exists, and performs the same processing as S25 or S28 assuming that the virtual disk having the GPT is selected. Thereafter, the computer 1 recognizes the HDD 16 again (S34). This step is the same as the processing of S16, S19, and the like. Thereafter, the processing returns to FIG. 11 through the connector C, and the computer 1 starts a normal boot sequence (S30).

Although it has been described that each virtual disk has an OS installed in advance, the process for installing the OS can also be performed according to the conventional procedure after performing the area selection process as described above.

[Disk access after OS startup]
Next, processing for writing a file to the HDD by an application started on the OS will be described. First, FIG. 14 shows an example of normal disk access processing. That is, FIG. 14 shows an example of using the HDD firmware without rewriting. Note that details of the process may differ depending on the OS, but such a process is an existing one.

First, the application requests data writing by a system call to the OS (kernel) (FIG. 14: S101). When the OS system service receives the system call, the I / O manager requests the file system driver to write data at the specified offset in the file (S102). Then, the file system driver converts the relative offset of the file into the relative offset of the volume (S103). Also, the I / O manager calls the disk driver and requests data writing to the relative offset of the volume (S104). The disk driver converts the relative offset of the volume into the relative offset of the disk, and requests data writing to the HDD (S105). Then, the HDD converts the relative offset of the disk into a physical position and controls the magnetic head to write data on the platter.

Next, disk access after performing the area selection processing in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the processing shown in FIG. 15, the data write request from the application to the OS (FIG. 15: S201) and the data write request from the OS to the HDD (S202 to S205) are the same as S101 to S105 in FIG. The HDD firmware that receives the request converts (shifts) the physical position specified in the data write request in accordance with the virtual disk selected by the user, and controls the magnetic head to perform the converted position on the platter. The data is written in (S206). As can be seen from FIGS. 14 and 15, according to the present embodiment, the virtual disk in the HDD can be switched while processing at the application and OS level is the same as the conventional one. That is, it is possible to manage areas to which different disk formats are applied in the same storage device. That is, in the same storage device, it is possible to switch and use areas having different partition management methods such as the MBR method and the GPT method.

Also, an OS that supports a certain partition management method and an OS that supports another partition management method can be stored in different areas of the same storage device. In other words, since a configuration that can be realized for the first time by using a plurality of storage devices can be realized by a single storage device, there is an effect of downsizing the device and an effect of reducing costs.

Further, for example, even when there is an upper limit on the capacity of a storage area that can be handled by a certain partition management system so that a storage area of a size exceeding 2.2 TB cannot be managed by the MBR system, a storage device having a capacity exceeding the upper limit Of these, if an area within the upper limit is allocated to a virtual disk using a partition management method and the remaining area is allocated to a virtual disk using another partition management method, a storage device with a capacity exceeding the upper limit can be used without waste. .

Also, since the configuration in each virtual disk is the same as the conventional one, for example, existing software can be used as it is for the software installed at the BIOS level. For example, security software executed at the BIOS level and software that remotely erases data in the storage device can be installed for each virtual disk. Therefore, in combination with the present embodiment, for example, if it is predetermined that a part of a plurality of virtual disks is used for business, only a part of the area can be deleted when the computer is lost. . Further, the OS stored in the other virtual disk can be operated while encryption is enabled for one virtual disk. According to these aspects, the security effect can be enhanced.

Also, in order to prevent erroneous deletion of user data, recovery software that does not operate unless the partition configuration is the same as that at the time of factory shipment may be applied. For example, if the partition configuration by a partition in one virtual disk is not the same as that at the time of shipment from the factory, the operation may not be performed. It may be.

In the embodiment, the case where there is one physical HDD is shown. However, in an electronic apparatus having a plurality of HDDs, a mode in which the above virtual disk is provided in at least one HDD may be used. One HDD can also be provided with three or more virtual disks.

<Computer-readable recording medium>
A program for causing a computer or other machine or device (hereinafter, a computer or the like) to realize any of the above functions can be recorded on a recording medium that can be read by the computer or the like. The function can be provided by causing a computer or the like to read and execute the program of the recording medium. Here, a computer-readable recording medium is a recording medium that stores information such as data and programs by electrical, magnetic, optical, mechanical, or chemical action and can be read from a computer or the like. Say. Examples of such recording media that can be removed from a computer or the like include, for example, a memory such as a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R / W, a DVD, a Blu-ray disc, a DAT, an 8 mm tape, and a flash memory There are cards. In addition, as a recording medium fixed to a computer or the like, there are a hard disk, a ROM (read only memory) and the like.

1 Computer 11 CPU
12 Chipset (North Bridge)
13 Graphics board slot 14 Memory slot 15 Chipset (South Bridge)
16 HDD
161 Control unit 162 Storage unit 17 Flash ROM
171 Area rewriting unit 172 Boot processing unit 18 User I / F
19 NVRAM
20 CMOS

Claims

Receiving an area selection from a first area to which the first disk format is applied and a second area to which the second disk format is applied, which is included in the storage unit of the storage device;
An area changing step for changing a reference of a physical position in the storage unit, which is accessed by the control unit of the storage device, based on the selected area;
Management program for causing a computer to execute.
The step of changing the area changes a size of shifting a physical position in the storage unit when the control unit accesses the storage unit, and a capacity of the storage unit accessible by the control unit. The storage device management program according to claim 1.
The storage device management program according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first disk format and the second disk format are different in a method of managing partitions.
A boot processing unit that accepts selection of an area from a first area to which the first disk format is applied and a second area to which the second disk format is applied, which is included in the storage unit of the storage device;
Based on the selected area, the area rewriting unit for changing the physical position reference in the storage unit, which is accessed by the control unit of the storage device;
An electronic device.
The area rewriting unit changes a size of shifting a physical position in the storage unit when the control unit accesses the storage unit, and a capacity of the storage unit accessible by the control unit. 5. The electronic device according to 4.
The electronic device according to claim 4, wherein the first disk format and the second disk format are different in a method of managing partitions.
The electronic device according to claim 4, further comprising: the storage device that stores different operating systems in the first area and the second area.
Receiving an area selection from a first area to which the first disk format is applied and a second area to which the second disk format is applied, which is included in the storage unit of the storage device;
An area changing step for changing a reference of a physical position in the storage unit, which is accessed by the control unit of the storage device, based on the selected area;
A storage device management method.