Inline disk tester
First Claim
1. In a disk drive having media divided into sectors, a method for testing the media, the method comprising the steps, performed by the disk drive, of:
- enabling error detection for the disk drive;
reconfiguring the drive to decrease the tolerance of the drive to defects within the media;
testing, in a first testing step, each sector in the media; and
adding each sector that generates an error during the first testing step to a list of suspected sectors within the disk drive media.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention is an inline tester for analyzing the integrity of a disk drive. Structurally, the inline tester includes a set of statistical and diagnostic routines included in the ROM of a disk drive and a diagnostic logic section included in the drive'"'"'s logic board. In initial use, the inline tester reconfigures the drive, making the drive less tolerant of flaws within the drive'"'"'s media. The drive is also reconfigured to enable error detection and disable error correcting codes as well as device retries. Each sector of the media is then tested with multiple test patterns and failing sectors are added to a list of suspected sectors. At the conclusion of testing, the drive is restored to its normal operating configuration with error correcting codes and device retries enabled. Later, each sector in the list of suspected sectors is re-tested. Sectors that fail are added to the drive'"'"'s list of bad sectors and are replaced by an alternate sector allocated from a reserved portion of the drive.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. In a disk drive having media divided into sectors, a method for testing the media, the method comprising the steps, performed by the disk drive, of:
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enabling error detection for the disk drive; reconfiguring the drive to decrease the tolerance of the drive to defects within the media; testing, in a first testing step, each sector in the media; and adding each sector that generates an error during the first testing step to a list of suspected sectors within the disk drive media. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. In a disk drive having media divided into sectors, an apparatus for testing the media, the apparatus comprising:
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means for enabling error detection for the disk drive; means for configuring the drive to decrease the tolerance of the drive to defects within the media; means for testing each sector in the media; and means for adding sectors that generate errors during testing to a list of suspected sectors within the disk drive media. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. In a disk driving having media divided into sectors, a method for testing the media, the method being executable by the disk drive and comprising the steps of:
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testing the drive sectors at a decreased tolerance to defects within the media; adding each sector that generates an error during the first testing step to a list of suspected sectors; testing the drive sectors from the list of suspected sectors at a normal tolerance to defects within the media; adding each sector that generates an error during the second testing step to a list of bad sectors; and allocating an alternative sector for each sector that generates an error during the second testing step.
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Specification