Method and apparatus for effecting drive ordering via adapter preference
First Claim
1. In a computer system comprising a plurality of controllers each for controlling the operation of one or more device drives connected thereto, each of said controllers including an extension basic input output system ("BIOS"), a method for enabling a user to control which of said device drives will serve as a boot drive for said computer system and a device ordering of said device drives, the method comprising:
- prompting a user to specify a preference order of said controllers;
storing said user-specified preference order in a storage element of said computer system;
retrieving said user-specified preference order from said storage element responsive to subsequent bootup of said computer system; and
initializing said extension BIOS of each of said controllers in said user-specified preference order.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for enabling a user to designate device order and boot-device preference in a computer system in which the devices are controlled by mass storage controllers is disclosed. In a preferred embodiment, a customization program of the present invention gathers user preference order for any controllers present in a computer system, which information is stored in a nonvolatile storage element in the computer system. During bootup of the computer, the system'"'"'s ROM BIOS retrieves the stored preference information and initializes the system'"'"'s mass storage controllers in the user-specified order. This initialization ordering controls which set of drives is configured first, and therefore, which drive is given boot priority and the drive ordering as seen by the operating system.
37 Citations
16 Claims
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1. In a computer system comprising a plurality of controllers each for controlling the operation of one or more device drives connected thereto, each of said controllers including an extension basic input output system ("BIOS"), a method for enabling a user to control which of said device drives will serve as a boot drive for said computer system and a device ordering of said device drives, the method comprising:
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prompting a user to specify a preference order of said controllers; storing said user-specified preference order in a storage element of said computer system; retrieving said user-specified preference order from said storage element responsive to subsequent bootup of said computer system; and initializing said extension BIOS of each of said controllers in said user-specified preference order. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A computer program for use in a computer system comprising a plurality of controllers each for controlling the operation of one or more device drives connected thereto, each of said controllers including a basic input output system ("BIOS") extension, the computer program for enabling a user to control which of said device drives will serve as a boot drive for said computer system and a device ordering of said device drives, the computer program comprising:
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instructions for requesting a user to specify a preference order of said controllers; instructions for storing said user-specified preference order in a storage element of said computer system; instructions for retrieving said user-specified preference order from said storage element responsive to subsequent bootup of said computer system; and instructions for initializing said extension BIOS of each of said controllers in said user-specified preference order. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. Apparatus for use in a computer system comprising a plurality of controllers each for controlling the operation of one or more device drives connected thereto, each of said controllers including a basic input output system ("BIOS") extension, the apparatus for enabling a user to control which of said device drives will serve as a boot drive for said computer system and a device ordering of said device drives, the apparatus comprising:
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means for requesting a user to specify a preference order of said controllers; means for storing said user-specified preference order in a storage element of said computer system; means for retrieving said user-specified preference order from said storage element responsive to subsequent bootup of said computer system; and means for initializing said extension BIOS of each of said controllers in said user-specified preference order. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification