Write management of physically coupled storage areas

• US 10,199,066 B1
• Filed: 05/04/2018
• Issued: 02/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Original Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Inventors: Feldman, Timothy R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hindi, Nabil Z
• Application Number:
  US15/971,119
• Time in Patent Office: 277 Days
• Field of Search: 360 48
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/1217 on discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/1258 where blocks are arranged within multiple radial zones, e.g. Zone Bit Recording or Constant Density Recording discs, MCAV discs, MCLV discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 5/012 Recording on, or reproducing or erasing from, magnetic disks G11B17/00, G11B19/00 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 5/09 Digital recording
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 5/59633 Servo formatting G11B5/59627, G11B5/59677, G11B5/59683, G11B5/59688 take precedence

Abstract

A method for managing data bands within an interlaced magnetic recording (IMR) architecture includes transmitting read/write characteristics of a logical block address space, the read/write characteristics including coupling information characterizing a physical arrangement of data blocks associated with different logical zones in the logical block address space, where each of the logical zones spans a continuous range of logical block addresses mapped to a series of data blocks physically interlaced with another series of data blocks corresponding to another one of the logical zones. The method further provides for executing a write command instructing a data write to a target logical zone of the logical zones, the write command being generated based on the transmitted coupling information.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

transmitting read/write characteristics of a logical block address space, the read/write characteristics including coupling information characterizing a physical arrangement of data blocks associated with different logical zones in the logical block address space, each of the logical zones spanning a continuous range of logical block addresses and mapped to a series of data blocks that is physically coupled to another series of data blocks corresponding to another one of the logical zones; and

executing a write command instructing a data write to a target logical zone of the logical zones, the write command generated based on the transmitted coupling information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the read/write characteristics include a data throughput indicator quantifying a write throughput associated with each one of the different logical zones.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating a fill state of the target logical zone; and

transmitting the updated fill state of the target logical zone to a host responsive to a query for the read/write characteristics of the logical block address space.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the logical block address space is distributed among data tracks managed according to an interlaced magnetic recording (IMR) scheme and the method further comprises:

determining that the target logical zone corresponds to a data band consisting of bottom IMR data tracks;

accessing coupling information stored in association with the data band to determine a fill state of one or more physically-coupled data bands; and

selectively executing the write command according to a set of operations selected based on the determined fill state of the one or more physically-coupled data bands.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the fill state indicates that user data is not stored in the one or more physically-coupled bands and the method further comprises:

executing the write command without reading data of the one or more physically-coupled bands into memory.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the fill state indicates that user data is stored in the one or more physically-coupled data bands and the method further comprises:

identifying target data tracks of the data band to be updated by execution of the write command;

identifying adjacent data tracks abutting the identified target data tracks;

reading data of the identified adjacent data tracks into memory;

updating the identified target data tracks with data specified by the write command; and

re-writing the data of the identified adjacent data tracks from the memory.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the logical block address space is distributed among data tracks managed according to an interlaced magnetic recording (IMR) scheme and the method further comprises:

determining that the target logical zone corresponds to a data band consisting of top IMR data tracks;

accessing coupling information stored in association with the data band to determine a fill state of one or more physically-coupled data bands; and

failing the write command based on the determined fill state of the one or more physically-coupled data bands.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

adjusting a write pointer responsive to execution of the write command;

determining that a capacity condition is satisfied by data stored within the target logical zone; and

responsive to the determination, updating a fill state associated with the target logical zone to a read-only state, the read-only state effective to prevent subsequent writes to the target logical zone.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a fill state update command; and

responsive to the fill state update command, updating a fill state associated with the target logical zone to a read-only state, the read-only state effective to prevent subsequent writes to the target logical zone.

10. A system comprising:

a storage device controller stored in memory and executable by a processor to;

transmit read/write characteristics of a logical block address space, the read/write characteristics including coupling information characterizing a physical arrangement of data blocks associated with different logical zones in the logical block address space, each of the logical zones spanning a continuous range of logical block addresses and mapped to a series of data blocks physically interlaced with another series of data blocks corresponding to another one of the logical zones; and

execute a write command instructing a data write to a target logical zone of the logical zones, the write command generated based on the transmitted coupling information.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the storage device controller is further executable to transmit a data throughput indicator within the read/write characteristics of the logical block address space, the data throughput indicator quantifying a write throughput associated with each one of the different logical zones.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the storage device controller is further executable to update a fill state of the target logical zone;

and

transmit the updated fill state of the target logical zone to a host responsive to a query for the read/write characteristics of the logical block address space.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the logical block address space is distributed among data tracks managed according to an interlaced magnetic recording (IMR) scheme and the storage device controller is further executable to:

determine that the target logical zone corresponds to a data band consisting of bottom IMR data tracks;

access coupling information stored in association with the data band to determine a fill state of one or more physically-coupled data bands; and

selectively execute the write command according to a set of operations selected based on the determined fill state of the one or more physically-coupled data bands.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the fill state indicates that user data is not stored in the one or more physically-coupled data bands and the storage device controller is further executable to:

execute the write command without reading data of the one or more physically-coupled data bands into memory.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the fill state indicates that user data is stored in the one or more physically-coupled data bands and the storage device controller is further executable to:

identify target data tracks of the data band to be updated by execution of the write command;

identify adjacent data tracks abutting the identified target data tracks;

read data of the identified adjacent data tracks into memory;

update the identified target data tracks with data specified by the write command;

re-write the data of the identified adjacent data tracks from the memory.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the logical block address space is distributed among data tracks managed according to an interlaced magnetic recording (IMR) scheme and the storage device controller is further executable to:

determine that the target logical zone corresponds to a data band consisting of top IMR data tracks;

access coupling information stored in association with the data band to determine a fill state of one or more physically-coupled data bands; and

fail the write command based on the determined fill state of the one or more physically-coupled data bands.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the storage device controller is further executable to:

adjust a write pointer responsive to execution of the write command;

determine that a capacity condition is satisfied by data stored within the target logical zone;

responsive to the determination, update a fill state associated with the target logical zone to a read-only state, the read-only state effective to prevent subsequent writes to the target logical zone.

18. One or more computer-readable storage media encoding computer-executable instructions for executing on a computer system a computer process, the computer process comprising:

transmitting read/write characteristics of a logical block address space, the read/write characteristics including coupling information characterizing a physical arrangement of data blocks associated with different logical zones in the logical block address space, each of the logical zones spanning a continuous range of logical block addresses and mapped to a series of data blocks that is physically coupled to another series of data blocks corresponding to another one of the logical zones; and

executing a write command instructing a data write to a target logical zone of the logical zones, the write command generated based on the transmitted coupling information.

19. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 18, wherein the read/write characteristics include a data throughput indicator quantifying a write throughput associated with each one of the different logical zones.

20. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 18, wherein the logical block address space is distributed among data tracks managed according to an interlaced magnetic recording (IMR) scheme and the computer process further comprises:

determining that the target logical zone corresponds to a data band consisting of bottom IMR data tracks;

accessing coupling information stored in association with the data band to determine a fill state of one or more physically-coupled data bands; and

selectively executing the write command according to a set of operations selected based on the determined fill state of the one or more physically-coupled data bands.