Autonomous high speed address translation with defect management for hard disc drives

• US 5,983,309 A
• Filed: 08/20/1997
• Issued: 11/09/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Original Assignee: Seagate Technology plc (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Inventors: Reddy, Prafulla Bollampalli, Weberg, William Kent, Groo, Mark Hubert, Virjee, Pervez Edul, Gates, Timothy Verne, Shaver, Jimmie Ray, Atsatt, Sean R.
• Primary Examiner(s): BRAGDON, REGINALD GLENWOOD
• Application Number:
  US08/917,005
• Time in Patent Office: 811 Days
• Field of Search: 711/4, 711/203, 711/206, 711/156, 711/219, 711/220, 395/182.03, 395/182.06
• US Class Current: 711/4
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/1883 Methods for assignment of alternate areas for defective areas
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2020/1242 the area forming one or more zones, wherein each zone is shaped like an annulus or a circular sector
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/20 Disc-shaped record carriers

Abstract

An address translation unit is provided for logical to physical address conversion. In particular, apparatus and method are described for receiving a logical cylinder head sector for a logical block address and converting it into a physical cylinder head sector. If a logical block address is received, it is converted to a physical block address and then the physical block address is converted into a physical cylinder head sector. If a logical cylinder head sector is first received, it is converted into a logical block address, and then the conversion takes place just as it would for an initially received logical block address.

Claims

1. A method for a disc controller, the disc controller coupled between a computer system and a disc drive, the disc drive including disk media, the disk media having at least one recording zone, the recording zone having a plurality of sectors and a plurality of tracks, the disc drive including a plurality of registers, a microprocessor, and a memory including a plurality of tables for conversion of a target logical block address into a target physical address, the target physical address being a target physical block address, the method comprising the steps of:

providing the target logical address to an address translation unit from a host interface;

determining with the address translation unit that the target logical address is a target logical block address;

searching by the address translation unit a first accessed one of the plurality of tables for a greatest logical block address which is not greater than the target logical block address;

determining with the address translation unit an index to a second accessed one of the plurality of tables for fetching information for converting the target logical block address into the target physical address,

the first accessed one of the plurality of tables being a defect description table, and the second accessed one of the plurality of tables being a physical zone table; and

converting with the address translation unit the target logical address block address into the target physical address, the defect description table including sector information on each of the plurality of sectors, the sector information including status of each one of said plurality of sectors, the recording zone associated with each of said plurality of sectors, and a logical block address for each of the plurality of sectors.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the sector information further includes a slip value for ones of said plurality of sectors, and ones of said recording zones include at least one sparing region.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the microprocessor loads the plurality of registers for storing information on number of heads per cylinder, defect description table base address, defect description table size, physical zone table base address, and physical zone table entry size.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the address translation unit determines the index into the physical zone table, the index being determined from the physical zone table entry size, the recording zone associated with the greatest logical block address found, and the physical zone table base address.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the physical zone table includes zone information on each said recording zone of the disk media, the zone information including a starting logical block address for each said recording zone, number of logical block addresses per said sparing region, number of slipped sectors per said sparing region, cumulative slip count to the beginning of each said recording zone from a starting one of said plurality of sectors of the disc drive, number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, number of a starting cylinder for each said recording zone, and number of cylinders in each said recording zone.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the host interface does not use recording based zone sparing, and the disk drive does use serpentine seeking.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the address translation unit determines a target sparing region relative to a start of the recording zone, and a calculated slip value of the target sparing region relative to a start of the recording zone.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the address translation unit determines which, as between the calculated slip value and the slip value found in the defect description table, a target slip value is to equal, the target slip value being for the target logical block address relative to a start of the disk drive.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein the target physical block address is determined by the address translation unit by adding the target logical block address to a target slip value, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone starting physical block address by adding the starting logical block address for a recording zone to the cumulative slip count to the beginning of the recording zone, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical block address by subtracting from the target physical block address the zone starting physical block address, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical track relative to the recording zone by dividing the zone relative target physical block address by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a track relative target physical block address by determining a first remainder as between the zone relative target physical block address being divided by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the address translation unit determines a cylinder relative target physical head by dividing the target physical track relative to the recording zone by the number of cylinders in the recording zone, and wherein the address translation unit determines a first zone relative target physical cylinder by determining a second remainder as between the target physical track relative to the recording zone being divided by the number of cylinders in the recording zone.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein if the cylinder relative target physical head has no remainder when divided by two, the address translation unit directly determines a target physical cylinder by adding the number of the starting cylinder for the recording zone to the zone relative target physical cylinder.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the address translation unit determines a track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by subtracting the track relative target physical block address from the target physical block address, wherein the track relative target physical block address is set equal to zero, wherein the address translation unit determines a next track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by adding the track relative starting physical block address and the number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a next region starting logical block address by adding the starting logical block address for the recording zone with the target sparing region relative to the start of the recording zone plus one quantity multiplied by the number of logical block addresses for the sparing region.

13. The method of claim 4 wherein the physical zone table includes zone information on each said recording zone of the disk media, the zone information including a starting logical block address for each said recording zone, number of logical block addresses per said sparing region, number of slipped sectors per said sparing region, cumulative slip count to the beginning of each said recording zone from a starting one of said plurality of sectors of the disc drive, number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and number of a starting cylinder for each said recording zone.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the host interface does not use recording based zone sparing, and the disk drive does not use serpentine seeking.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the address translation unit determines a target sparing region relative a to start of the recording zone, and a calculated slip value of the target sparing region relative to a start of the recording zone.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the address translation unit determines which, as between the calculated slip value and the slip value found in the defect description table, a target slip value is to equal, the target slip value being for the target logical block address relative to a start of the disk drive.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein the target physical block address is determined by the address translation unit by adding the target logical block address to a target slip value, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone starting physical block address by adding the starting logical block address for a recording zone to the cumulative slip count to the beginning of the recording zone, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical block address by subtracting from the target physical block address the zone starting physical block address, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical track relative to the recording zone by dividing the zone relative target physical block address by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a track relative target physical block address by determining a first remainder as between the zone relative target physical block address being divided by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical cylinder by dividing the target physical track relative to the recording zone by the number of heads per cylinder, wherein the address translation unit determines a cylinder relative target physical head by determining a second remainder as between the target physical track relative to the recording zone being divided by the number of heads per cylinder, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical cylinder by adding the number of the starting cylinder for the recording zone to the zone relative target physical cylinder.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the address translation unit determines a track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by subtracting the track relative target physical block address from the target physical block address, wherein the track relative target physical block address is set equal to zero, wherein the address translation unit determines a next track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by adding the track relative starting physical block address and the number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a next region starting logical block address by adding the starting logical block address for the recording zone with the target sparing region relative to the start of the recording zone plus one quantity multiplied by the number of logical block addresses for the sparing region.

20. The method of claim 4 wherein the physical zone table includes zone information on each said recording zone of the disk media, the zone information including starting logical block address for each said recording zone, cumulative slip count to the beginning of each said recording zone from a starting one of said plurality of sectors of the disc drive, number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, number of a starting cylinder for each said recording zone, and number of cylinders in each said recording zone.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the host interface does use recording based zone sparing, and the disk drive does use serpentine seeking.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the address translation unit sets a target slip value equal to the slip value found in the defect description table, the target slip value being for the target logical block address relative to a start of the disk drive.

23. The method of claims 20 wherein the target physical block address is determined by the address translation unit by adding the target logical block address to a target slip value, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone starting physical block address by adding the starting logical block address for a recording zone to the cumulative slip count to the beginning of the recording zone, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical block address by subtracting from the target physical block address the zone starting physical block address, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical track relative to the recording zone by dividing the zone relative target physical block address by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a track relative target physical block address by determining a first remainder as between the zone relative target physical block address being divided by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the address translation unit determines a cylinder relative target physical head by dividing the target physical track relative to the recording zone by the number of cylinders in the recording zone, and wherein the address translation unit determines a first zone relative target physical cylinder by determining a second remainder as between the target physical track relative to the recording zone being divided by the number of cylinders in the recording zone.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein if the cylinder relative target physical head has no remainder when divided by two, the address translation unit directly determines a target physical cylinder by adding the number of the starting cylinder for the recording zone to the zone relative target physical cylinder.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the address translation unit determines a track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by subtracting the track relative target physical block address from the target physical block address, wherein the track relative target physical block address is set equal to zero, wherein the address translation unit determines a next track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by adding the track relative starting physical block address and the number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a next region starting logical block address by inference from the defect description table entry having the greatest logical block address.

27. The method of claim 4 wherein the physical zone table includes zone information on each said recording zone of the disk media, the zone information including a starting logical block address for each said recording zone, cumulative slip count to the beginning of each said recording zone from a starting one of said plurality of sectors of the disc drive, number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and number of a starting cylinder for each said recording zone.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein the host interface does use recording based zone sparing, and the disk drive does not use serpentine seeking.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein the address translation unit sets a target slip value equal to the slip value found in the defect description table, the target slip value being for the target logical block address relative to a start of the disk drive.

30. The method of claim 27 wherein the target physical block address is determined by the address translation unit by adding the target logical block address to a target slip value, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone starting physical block address by adding the starting logical block address for a recording zone to the cumulative slip count to the beginning of the recording zone, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical block address by subtracting from the target physical block address the zone starting physical block address, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical track relative to the recording zone by dividing the zone relative target physical block address by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a track relative target physical block address by determining a first remainder as between the zone relative target physical block address being divided by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical cylinder by dividing the target physical track relative to the recording zone by the number of heads per cylinder, wherein the address translation unit determines a cylinder relative target physical head by determining a second remainder as between the target physical track relative to the recording zone being divided by the number of heads per cylinder, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical cylinder by adding the number of the starting cylinder for the recording zone to the zone relative target physical cylinder.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein the address translation unit determines a track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by subtracting the track relative target physical block address from the target physical block address, wherein the track relative target physical block address is set equal to zero, wherein the address translation unit determines a next track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by adding the track relative starting physical block address and the number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a next region starting logical block address by inference from the defect description table entry having the greatest logical block address.

33. An apparatus for a disc controller, the disc controller coupled between a computer system and a disc drive, the disc drive including disk media, the disk media having at least one recording zone, the recording zone having a plurality of sectors and a plurality of tracks, the apparatus comprising:

a host interface operative in combination with the computer system;

a address translation unit operative in combination with the host interface;

a microprocessor operative in combination with the address translation unit;

a first memory operative in combination with the address translation unit; and

a second memory operative in combination with the first memory;

the microprocessor loading a plurality of registers;

the host interface providing a target logical address to the address translation unit;

the address translation unit determining that the target logical address is a target logical block address;

the second memory including a plurality of tables for conversion of the target logical block address into a target physical address, said target physical address being a target physical block address;

the address translation unit searching a first accessed one of the plurality of tables for a greatest logical block address which is not greater than the target logical block address;

the address translation unit determining an index to a second accessed one of the plurality of tables for fetching information for converting the target logical block address into the target physical address;

the first accessed one of the plurality of tables being a defect description table, and the second accessed one of the plurality of tables being a physical zone table;

the address translation unit converting the target logical address block address into the target physical address; and

the defect description table including sector information on each of the plurality of sectors, the sector information including status of each one of said plurality of sectors, the recording zone associated with each of said plurality of sectors, and a logical block address for each of the plurality of sectors.

34. The apparatus of claim 33 wherein the sector information further includes a slip value for ones of said plurality of sectors, and ones of said recording zones include at least one sparing region.

35. The apparatus of claim 34 wherein the microprocessor loads the plurality of registers for storing information on number of heads per cylinder, defect description table base address, defect description table size, physical zone table base address, and physical zone table entry size.

36. The apparatus of claim 35 wherein the address translation unit determines the index into the physical zone table, the index being determined from the physical zone table entry size, the recording zone associated with the greatest logical block address found, and the physical zone table base address.

37. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein the physical zone table includes zone information on each said recording zone of the disk media, the zone information including a starting logical block address for each said recording zone, number of logical block addresses per said sparing region, number of slipped sectors per said sparing region, cumulative slip count to the beginning of each said recording zone from a starting one of said plurality of sectors of the disc drive, number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, number of a starting cylinder for each said recording zone, and number of cylinders in each said recording zone.

38. The apparatus of claim 37 wherein the host interface does not use recording based zone sparing, and the disk drive does use serpentine seeking.

39. The apparatus of claim 38 wherein the address translation unit determines a target sparing region relative to a start of the recording zone, and a calculated slip value of the target sparing region relative to a start of the recording zone.

40. The apparatus of claim 39 wherein the address translation unit determines which, as between the calculated slip value and the slip value found in the defect description table, a target slip value is to equal, the target slip value being for the target logical block address relative to a start of the disk drive.

41. The apparatus of claim 37 wherein the target physical block address is determined by the address translation unit by adding the target logical block address to a target slip value, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone starting physical block address by adding the starting logical block address for a recording zone to the cumulative slip count to the beginning of the recording zone, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical block address by subtracting from the target physical block address the zone starting physical block address, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical track relative to the recording zone by dividing the zone relative target physical block address by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a track relative target physical block address by determining a first remainder as between the zone relative target physical block address being divided by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks.

42. The apparatus of claim 41 wherein the address translation unit determines a cylinder relative target physical head by dividing the target physical track relative to the recording zone by the number of cylinders in the recording zone, and wherein the address translation unit determines a first zone relative target physical cylinder by determining a second remainder as between the target physical track relative to the recording zone being divided by the number of cylinders in the recording zone.

43. The apparatus of claim 42 wherein if the cylinder relative target physical head has no remainder when divided by two, the address translation unit directly determines a target physical cylinder by adding the number of the starting cylinder for the recording zone to the zone relative target physical cylinder.

44. The apparatus of claim 43 wherein the address translation unit determines a track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by subtracting the track relative target physical block address from the target physical block address, wherein the track relative target physical block address is set equal to zero, wherein the address translation unit determines a next track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by adding the track relative starting physical block address and the number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a next region starting logical block address by adding the starting logical block address for the recording zone with the target sparing region relative to the start of the recording zone plus one quantity multiplied by the number of logical block addresses for the sparing region.

45. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein the physical zone table includes zone information on each said recording zone of tire disk media, the zone information including a starting logical block address for each said recording zone, number of logical block addresses per said sparing region, number of slipped sectors per said sparing region, cumulative slip count to the beginning of each said recording zone from a starting one of said plurality of sectors of the disc drive, number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and number of a starting cylinder for each said recording zone.

46. The apparatus of claim 45 wherein the host interface does not use recording based zone sparing, and the disk drive does not use serpentine seeking.

47. The apparatus of claim 46 wherein the address translation unit determines a target sparing region relative to a start of the recording zone, and a calculated slip value of the target sparing region relative to a start of the recording zone.

48. The apparatus of claim 47 wherein the address translation unit determines which, as between the calculated slip value and the slip value found in the defect description table, a target slip value is to equal, the target slip value being for the target logical block address relative to a start of the disk drive.

49. The apparatus of claim 45 wherein the target physical block address is determined by the address translation unit by adding the target logical block address to a target slip value, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone starting physical block address by adding the starting logical block address for a recording zone to the cumulative slip count to the beginning of the recording zone, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical block address by subtracting from the target physical block address the zone starting physical block address, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical track relative to the recording zone by dividing the zone relative target physical block address by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a track relative target physical block address by determining a first remainder as between the zone relative target physical block address being divided by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks.

50. The apparatus of claim 49 wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical cylinder by dividing the target physical track relative to the recording zone by the number of heads per cylinder, wherein the address translation unit determines a cylinder relative target physical head by determining a second remainder as between the target physical track relative to the recording zone being divided by the number of heads per cylinder, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical cylinder by adding the number of the starting cylinder for the recording zone to the zone relative target physical cylinder.

51. The apparatus of claim 50 wherein the address translation unit determines a track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by subtracting the track relative target physical block address from the target physical block address, wherein the track relative target physical block address is set equal to zero, wherein the address translation unit determines a next track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by adding the track relative starting physical block address and the number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a next region starting logical block address by adding the starting logical block address for the recording zone with the target sparing region relative to the start of the recording zone plus one quantity multiplied by the number of logical block addresses for the sparing region.

52. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein the physical zone table includes zone information on each said recording zone of the disk media, the zone information including a starting logical block address for each said recording zone, cumulative slip count to the beginning of each said recording zone from a starting one of said plurality of sectors of the disc drive, number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, number of a starting cylinder for each said recording zone, and number of cylinders in each said recording zone.

53. The apparatus of claim 52 wherein the host interface does use recording based zone sparing, and the disk drive does use serpentine seeking.

54. The apparatus of claim 53 wherein the address translation unit sets a target slip value equal to the slip value found in the defect description table, the target slip value being for the target logical block address relative to a start of the disk drive.

55. The apparatus of claim 52 wherein the target physical block address is determined by the address translation unit by adding the target logical block address to a target slip value, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone starting physical block address by adding the starting logical block address for a recording zone to the cumulative slip count to the beginning of the recording zone, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical block address by subtracting from the target physical block address the zone starting physical block address, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical track relative to the recording zone by dividing the zone relative target physical block address by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a track relative target physical block address by determining a first remainder as between the zone relative target physical block address being divided by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks.

56. The apparatus of claim 55 wherein the address translation unit determines a cylinder relative target physical head by dividing the target physical track relative to the recording zone by the number of cylinders in the recording zone, and wherein the address translation unit determines a first zone relative target physical cylinder by determining a second remainder as between the target physical track relative to the recording zone being divided by the number of cylinders in the recording zone.

57. The apparatus of claim 56 wherein if the cylinder relative target physical head has no remainder when divided by two, the address translation unit directly determines a target physical cylinder by adding the number of the starting cylinder for the recording zone to the zone relative target physical cylinder.

58. The apparatus of claim 57 wherein the address translation unit determines a track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by subtracting the track relative target physical block address from the target physical block address, wherein the track relative target physical block address is set equal to zero, wherein the address translation unit determines a next track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by adding the track relative starting physical block address and the number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a next region starting logical block address by inference from the defect description table entry having the greatest logical block address.

59. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein the physical zone table includes zone information on each said recording zone of the disk media, the zone information including a starting logical block address for each said recording zone, cumulative slip count to the beginning of each said recording zone from a starting one of said plurality of sectors of the disc drive, number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and number of a starting cylinder for each said recording zone.

60. The apparatus of claim 59 wherein the host interface does use recording based zone sparing, and the disk drive does not use serpentine seeking.

61. The apparatus of claim 60 wherein the address translation unit sets a target slip value equal to the slip value found in the defect description table, the target slip value being for the target logical block address relative to a start of the disk drive.

62. The apparatus of claim 59 wherein the target physical block address is determined by the address translation unit by adding the target logical block address to a target slip value, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone starting physical block address by adding the starting logical block address for a recording zone to the cumulative slip count to the beginning of the recording zone, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical block address by subtracting from the target physical block address the zone starting physical block address, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical track relative to the recording zone by dividing the zone relative target physical block address by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a track relative target physical block address by determining a first remainder as between the zone relative target physical block address being divided by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks.

63. The apparatus of claim 62 wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical cylinder by dividing the target physical track relative to the recording zone by the number of heads per cylinder, wherein the address translation unit determines a cylinder relative target physical head by determining a second remainder as between the target physical track relative to the recording zone being divided by the number of heads per cylinder, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical cylinder by adding the number of the starting cylinder for the recording zone to the zone relative target physical cylinder.

64. The apparatus of claim 63 wherein the address translation unit determines a track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by subtracting the track relative target physical block address from the target physical block address, wherein the track relative target physical block address is set equal to zero, wherein the address translation unit determines a next track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by adding the track relative starting physical block address and the number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a next region starting logical block address by inference from the defect description table entry having the greatest logical block address.

65. An apparatus for a disc controller, the disc controller coupled between a computer system and a disc drive, the disc drive including disk media, the disk media having at least one recording zone, the recording zone having a plurality of sectors and a plurality of tracks, the apparatus comprising:

a host interface operative in combination with the computer system;

a address translation unit operative in combination with the host interface;

a microprocessor operative in combination with the address translation unit;

a first memory operative in combination with the address translation unit; and

a second memory operative in combination with the first memory;

the microprocessor loading a plurality of registers;

the host interface providing a target logical address to the address translation unit;

the address translation unit determining that the target logical address is a target logical cylinder-head-sector and converting the target logical cylinder-head-sector into a target logical block address;

the second memory including a plurality of tables for conversion of the target logical block address into a target physical address, said target physical address being a target physical block address;

the address translation unit searching a first accessed one of the plurality of tables for a greatest logical block address which is not greater than the target logical block address;

the address translation unit determining an index to a second accessed one of the plurality of tables for fetching information for converting the target logical block address into the target physical address;

the first accessed one of the plurality of tables being a defect description table, and the second accessed one of the plurality of tables being a physical zone table;

the address translation unit converting the target logical address block address into the target physical address; and

the defect description table including sector information on each of the plurality of sectors, the sector information including status of each one of said plurality of sectors, the recording zone associated with each of said plurality of sectors, and a logical block address for each of the plurality of sectors.

66. The apparatus of claim 65 wherein the sector information further includes a slip value for ones of said plurality of sectors, and ones of said recording zones include at least one sparing region.

67. The apparatus of claim 66 wherein the microprocessor loads the plurality of registers for storing information on number of heads per cylinder, defect description table base address, defect description table size, physical zone table base address, and physical zone table entry size.

68. The apparatus of claim 67 wherein the address translation unit determines the index into the physical zone table, the index being determined from the physical zone table entry size, the recording zone associated with the greatest logical block address found, and the physical zone table base address.

69. The apparatus of claim 68 wherein the physical zone table includes zone information on each said recording zone of the disk media, the zone information including a starting logical block address for each said recording zone, number of logical block addresses per said sparing region, number of slipped sectors per said sparing region, cumulative slip count to the beginning of each said recording zone from a starting one of said plurality of sectors of the disc drive, number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, number of a starting cylinder for each said recording zone, and number of cylinders in each said recording zone.

70. The apparatus of claim 69 wherein the host interface does not use recording based zone sparing, and the disk drive does use serpentine seeking.

71. The apparatus of claim 70 wherein the address translation unit determines a target sparing region relative to a start of the recording zone, and a calculated slip value of the target sparing region relative to a start of the recording zone.

72. The apparatus of claim 71 wherein the address translation unit determines which, as between the calculated slip value and the slip value found in the defect description table, a target slip value is to equal, the target slip value being for the target logical block address relative to a start of the disk drive.

73. The apparatus of claim 69 wherein the target physical block address is determined by the address translation unit by adding the target logical block address to a target slip value, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone starting physical block address by adding the starting logical block address for a recording zone to the cumulative slip count to the beginning of the recording zone, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical block address by subtracting from the target physical block address the zone starting physical block address, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical track relative to the recording zone by dividing the zone relative target physical block address by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a track relative target physical block address by determining a first remainder as between the zone relative target physical block address being divided by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks.

74. The apparatus of claim 73 wherein the address translation unit determines a cylinder relative target physical head by dividing the target physical track relative to the recording zone by the number of cylinders in the recording zone, and wherein the address translation unit determines a first zone relative target physical cylinder by determining a second remainder as between the target physical track relative to the recording zone being divided by the number of cylinders in the recording zone.

75. The apparatus of claim 74 wherein if the cylinder relative target physical head has no remainder when divided by two, the address translation unit directly determines a target physical cylinder by adding the number of the starting cylinder for the recording zone to the zone relative target physical cylinder.

76. The apparatus of claim 75 wherein the address translation unit determines a track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by subtracting the track relative target physical block address from the target physical block address, wherein the track relative target physical block address is set equal to zero, wherein the address translation unit determines a next track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by adding the track relative starting physical block address and the number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a next region starting logical block address by adding the starting logical block address for the recording zone with the target sparing region relative to the start of the recording zone plus one quantity multiplied by the number of logical block addresses for the sparing region.

77. The apparatus of claim 68 wherein the physical zone table includes zone information on each said recording zone of the disk media, the zone information including a starting logical block address for each said recording zone, number of logical block addresses per said sparing region, number of slipped sectors per said sparing region, cumulative slip count to the beginning of each said recording zone from a starting one of said plurality of sectors of the disc drive, number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and number of a starting cylinder for each said recording zone.

78. The apparatus of claim 77 wherein the host interface does not use recording based zone sparing, and the disk drive does not use serpentine seeking.

79. The apparatus of claim 78 wherein the address translation unit determines a target sparing region relative to a start of the recording zone, and a calculated slip value of the target sparing region relative to a start of the recording zone.

80. The apparatus of claim 79 wherein the address translation unit determines which, as between the calculated slip value and the slip value found in the defect description table, a target slip value is to equal, the target slip value being for the target logical block address relative to a start of the disk drive.

81. The apparatus of claim 77 wherein the target physical block address is determined by the address translation unit by adding the target logical block address to a target slip value, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone starting physical block address by adding the starting logical block address for a recording zone to the cumulative slip count to the beginning of the recording zone, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical block address by subtracting from the target physical block address the zone starting physical block address, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical track relative to the recording zone by dividing the zone relative target physical block address by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a track relative target physical block address by determining a first remainder as between the zone relative target physical block address being divided by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks.

82. The apparatus of claim 81 wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical cylinder by dividing the target physical track relative to the recording zone by the number of heads per cylinder, wherein the address translation unit determines a cylinder relative target physical head by determining a second remainder as between the target physical track relative to the recording zone being divided by the number of heads per cylinder, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical cylinder by adding the number of the starting cylinder for the recording zone to the zone relative target physical cylinder.

83. The apparatus of claim 82 wherein the address translation unit determines a track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by subtracting the track relative target physical block address from the target physical block address, wherein the track relative target physical block address is set equal to zero, wherein the address translation unit determines a next track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by adding the track relative starting physical block address and the number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a next region starting logical block address by adding the starting logical block address for the recording zone with the target sparing region relative to the start of the recording zone plus one quantity multiplied by the number of logical block addresses for the sparing region.

84. The apparatus of claim 68 wherein the physical zone table includes zone information on each said recording zone of the disk media, the zone information including a starting logical block address for each said recording zone, cumulative slip count to the beginning of each said recording zone from a starting one of said plurality of sectors of the disc drive, number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, number of a starting cylinder for each said recording zone, and number of cylinders in each said recording zone.

85. The apparatus of claim 84 wherein the host interface does use recording based zone sparing, and the disk drive does use serpentine seeking.

86. The apparatus of claim 85 wherein the address translation unit sets a target slip value equal to the slip value found in the defect description table, the target slip value being for the target logical block address relative to a start of the disk drive.

87. The apparatus of claim 84 wherein the target physical block address is determined by the address translation unit by adding the target logical block address to a target slip value, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone starting physical block address by adding the starting logical block address for a recording zone to the cumulative slip count to the beginning of the recording zone, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical block address by subtracting from the target physical block address the zone starting physical block address, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical track relative to the recording zone by dividing the zone relative target physical block address by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a track relative target physical block address by determining a first remainder as between the zone relative target physical block address being divided by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks.

88. The apparatus of claim 87 wherein the address translation unit determines a cylinder relative target physical head by dividing the target physical track relative to the recording zone by the number of cylinders in the recording zone, and wherein the address translation unit determines a first zone relative target physical cylinder by determining a second remainder as between the target physical track relative to the recording zone being divided by the number of cylinders in the recording zone.

89. The apparatus of claim 88 wherein if the cylinder relative target physical head has no remainder when divided by two, the address translation unit directly determines a target physical cylinder by adding the number of the starting cylinder for the recording zone to the zone relative target physical cylinder.

90. The apparatus of claim 89, wherein the address translation unit determines a track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by subtracting the track relative target physical block address from the target physical block address, wherein the track relative target physical block address is set equal to zero, wherein the address translation unit determines a next track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by adding the track relative starting physical block address and the number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a next region starting logical block address by inference from the defect description table entry having the greatest logical block address.

91. The apparatus of claim 68 wherein the physical zone table includes zone information on each said recording zone of the disk media, the zone information including a starting logical block address for each said recording zone, cumulative slip count to the beginning of each said recording zone from a starting one of said plurality of sectors of the disc drive, number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and number of a starting cylinder for each said recording zone.

92. The apparatus of claim 91 wherein the host interface does use recording based zone sparing, and the disk drive does not use serpentine seeking.

93. The apparatus of claim 92 wherein the address translation unit sets a target slip value equal to the slip value found in the defect description table, the target slip value being for the target logical block address relative to a start of the disk drive.

94. The apparatus of claim 91 wherein the target physical block address is determined by the address translation unit by adding the target logical block address to a target slip value, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone starting physical block address by adding the starting logical block address for a recording zone to the cumulative slip count to the beginning of the recording zone, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical block address by subtracting from the target physical block address the zone starting physical block address, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical track relative to the recording one by dividing the one relative target physical block address by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a track relative target physical block address by determining a first remainder as between the zone relative target physical block address being divided by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks.

95. The apparatus of claim 94 wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical cylinder by dividing the target physical track relative to the recording zone by the number of heads per cylinder, wherein the address translation unit determines a cylinder relative target physical head by determining a second remainder as between the target physical track relative to the recording zone being divided by the number of heads per cylinder, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical cylinder by adding the number of the starting cylinder for the recording zone to the zone relative target physical cylinder.

96. The apparatus of claim 95 wherein the address translation unit determines a track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by subtracting the track relative target physical block address from the target physical block address, wherein the track relative target physical block address is set equal to zero, wherein the address translation unit determines a next track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by adding the track relative starting physical block address and the number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a next region starting logical block address by inference from the defect description table entry having the greatest logical block address.

97. A method for a disc controller, the disc controller coupled between a computer system and a disc drive, the disc drive including disk media, the disk media having at least one recording zone, the recording zone having a plurality of sectors and a plurality of tracks, the disc drive including a plurality of registers, a microprocessor, and a memory including a plurality of tables for conversion of a target logical block address into a target physical address, the target physical address being a target physical block address, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a target logical address to an address translation unit from a host interface;

determining with the address translation unit that the target logical address is a target logical cylinder-head-sector;

converting with the address translation unit the target logical cylinder-head-sector into a target logical block address;

searching by the address translation unit a first accessed one of the plurality of tables for a greatest logical block address which is not greater than the target logical block address;

determining with the address translation unit an index to a second accessed one of the plurality of tables for fetching information for converting the target logical block address into the target physical address, the first accessed one of the plurality of tables being a defect description table, and the second accessed one of the plurality of tables being a physical zone table; and

converting with the address translation unit the target logical address block address into the target physical address, the defect description table including sector information on each of the plurality of sectors, the sector information including status of each one of said plurality of sectors, the recording zone associated with each of said plurality of sectors, and a logical block address for each of the plurality of sectors.

98. The method of claim 97 wherein the sector information further includes a slip value for ones of said plurality of sectors, and ones of said recording zones include at least one sparing region.

99. The method of claim 98 wherein the microprocessor loads the plurality of registers for storing information on number of heads per cylinder, defect description table base address, defect description table size, physical zone table base address, and physical zone table entry size.

100. The method of claim 99 wherein the address translation unit determines the index into the physical zone table, the index being determined from the physical zone table entry size, the recording zone associated with the greatest logical block address found, and the physical zone table base address.

101. The method of claim 100 wherein the physical zone table includes zone information on each said recording zone of the disk media, the zone information including a starting logical block address for each said recording zone, number of logical block addresses per said sparing region, number of slipped sectors per said sparing region, cumulative slip count to the beginning of each said recording zone from a starting one of said plurality of sectors of the disc drive, number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, number of a starting cylinder for each said recording zone, and number of cylinders in each said recording zone.

102. The method of claim 101 wherein the host interface does not use recording based zone sparing, and the disk drive does use serpentine seeking.

103. The method of claim 102 wherein the address translation unit determines a target sparing region relative to a start of the recording zone, and a calculated slip value of the target sparing region relative to a start of the recording zone.

104. The method of claim 103 wherein the address translation unit determines which, as between the calculated slip value and the slip value found in the defect description table, a target slip value is to equal, the target slip value being for the target logical block address relative to a start of the disk drive.

105. The method of claims 101 wherein the target physical block address is determined by the address translation unit by adding the target logical block address to a target slip value, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone starting physical block address by adding the starting logical block address for a recording zone to the cumulative slip count to the beginning of the recording zone, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical block address by subtracting from the target physical block address the zone starting physical block address, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical track relative to the recording zone by dividing the zone relative target physical block address by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a track relative target physical block address by determining a first remainder as between the zone relative target physical block address being divided by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks.

106. The method of claim 105 wherein the address translation unit determines a cylinder relative target physical head by dividing the target physical track relative to the recording zone by the number of cylinders in the recording zone, and wherein the address translation unit determines a first zone relative target physical cylinder by determining a second remainder as between the target physical track relative to the recording zone being divided by the number of cylinders in the recording zone.

107. The method of claim 106 wherein if the cylinder relative target physical head has no remainder when divided by two, the address translation unit directly determines a target physical cylinder by adding the number of the starting cylinder for the recording zone to the zone relative target physical cylinder.

108. The method of claim 107 wherein the address translation unit determines a track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by subtracting the track relative target physical block address from the target physical block address, wherein the track relative target physical block address is set equal to zero, wherein the address translation unit determines a next track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by adding the track relative starting physical block address and the number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a next region starting logical block address by adding the starting logical block address for the recording zone with the target sparing region relative to the start of the recording zone plus one quantity multiplied by the number of logical block addresses for the sparing region.

109. The method of claim 100 wherein the physical zone table includes zone information on each said recording zone of the disk media, the zone information including a starting logical block address for each said recording zone, number of logical block addresses per said sparing region, number of slipped sectors per said sparing region, cumulative slip count to the beginning of each said recording zone from a starting one of said plurality of sectors of the disc drive, number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and number of a starting cylinder for each said recording zone.

110. The method of claim 109 wherein the host interface does not use recording based zone sparing, and the disk drive does not use serpentine seeking.

111. The method of claim 110 wherein the address translation unit determines a target sparing region relative to a start of the recording zone, and a calculated slip value of the target sparing region relative to a start of the recording zone.

112. The method of claim 111 wherein the address translation unit determines which, as between the calculated slip value and the slip value found in the defect description table, a target slip value is to equal, the target slip value being for the target logical block address relative to a start of the disk drive.

113. The method of claims 109 wherein the target physical block address is determined by the address translation unit by adding the target logical block address to a target slip value, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone starting physical block address by adding the starting logical block address for a recording zone to the cumulative slip count to the beginning of the recording zone, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical block address by subtracting from the target physical block address the zone starting physical block address, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical track relative to the recording zone by dividing the zone relative target physical block address by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a track relative target physical block address by determining a first remainder as between the zone relative target physical block address being divided by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks.

114. The method of claim 113 wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical cylinder by dividing the target physical track relative to the recording zone by the number of heads per cylinder, wherein the address translation unit determines a cylinder relative target physical head by determining a second remainder as between the target physical track relative to the recording zone being divided by the number of heads per cylinder, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical cylinder by adding the number of the starting cylinder for the recording zone to the zone relative target physical cylinder.

115. The method of claim 114 wherein the address translation unit determines a track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by subtracting the track relative target physical block address from the target physical block address, wherein the track relative target physical block address is set equal to zero, wherein the address translation unit determines a next track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by adding the track relative starting physical block address and the number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a next region starting logical block address by adding the starting logical block address for the recording zone with the target sparing region relative to the start of the recording zone plus one quantity multiplied by the number of logical block addresses for the sparing region.

116. The method of claim 100 wherein the physical zone table includes zone information on each said recording zone of the disk media, the zone information including a starting logical block address for each said recording zone, cumulative slip count to the beginning of each said recording zone from a starting one of said plurality of sectors of the disc drive, number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, number of a starting cylinder for each said recording zone, and number of cylinders in each said recording zone.

117. The method of claim 116 wherein the host interface does use recording based zone sparing, and the disk drive does use serpentine seeking.

118. The method of claim 117 wherein the address translation unit sets a target slip value equal to the slip value found in the defect description table, the target slip value being for the target logical block address relative to a start of the disk drive.

119. The method of claim 116 wherein the target physical block address is determined by the address translation unit by adding the target logical block address to a target slip value, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone starting physical block address by adding the starting logical block address for a recording zone to the cumulative slip count to the beginning of the recording zone, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical block address by subtracting from the target physical block address the zone starting physical block address, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical track relative to the recording zone by dividing the zone relative target physical block address by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a track relative target physical block address by determining a first remainder as between the zone relative target physical block address being divided by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks.

120. The method of claim 119 wherein the address translation unit determines a cylinder relative target physical head by dividing the target physical track relative to the recording zone by the number of cylinders in the recording zone, and wherein the address translation unit determines a first zone relative target physical cylinder by determining a second remainder as between the target physical track relative to the recording zone being divided by the number of cylinders in the recording zone.

121. The method of claim 120 wherein if the cylinder relative target physical head has no remainder when divided by two, the address translation unit directly determines a target physical cylinder by adding the number of the starting cylinder for the recording zone to the zone relative target physical cylinder.

122. The method of claim 121 wherein the address translation unit determines a track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by subtracting the track relative target physical block address from the target physical block address, wherein the track relative target physical block address is set equal to zero, wherein the address translation unit determines a next track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by adding the track relative starting physical block address and the number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a next region starting logical block address by inference from the defect description table entry having the greatest logical block address.

123. The method of claim 100 wherein the physical zone table includes zone information on each said recording zone of the disk media, the zone information including a starting logical block address for each said recording zone, cumulative slip count to the beginning of each said recording zone from a starting one of said plurality of sectors of the disc drive, number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and number of a starting cylinder for each said recording zone.

124. The method of claim 123 wherein the host interface does use recording based zone sparing, and the disk drive does not use serpentine seeking.

125. The method of claim 124 wherein the address translation unit sets a target slip value equal to the slip value found in the defect description table, the target slip value being for the target logical block address relative to a start of the disk drive.

126. The method of claim 123 wherein the target physical block address is determined by the address translation unit by adding the target logical block address to a target slip value, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone starting physical block address by adding the starting logical block address for a recording zone to the cumulative slip count to the beginning of the recording zone, wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical block address by subtracting from the target physical block address the zone starting physical block address, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical track relative to the recording zone by dividing the zone relative target physical block address by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a track relative target physical block address by determining a first remainder as between the zone relative target physical block address being divided by the number of physical block addresses for one of said tracks.

127. The method of claim 126 wherein the address translation unit determines a zone relative target physical cylinder by dividing the target physical track relative to the recording zone by the number of heads per cylinder, wherein the address translation unit determines a cylinder relative target physical head by determining a second remainder as between the target physical track relative to the recording zone being divided by the number of heads per cylinder, wherein the address translation unit determines a target physical cylinder by adding the number of the starting cylinder for the recording zone to the zone relative target physical cylinder.

128. The method of claim 127 wherein the address translation unit determines a track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by subtracting the track relative target physical block address from the target physical block address, wherein the track relative target physical block address is set equal to zero, wherein the address translation unit determines a next track starting physical block address relative to the start of the disc drive by adding the track relative starting physical block address and the number of physical block addresses for each one of said tracks, and wherein the address translation unit determines a next region starting logical block address by inference from the defect description table entry having the greatest logical block address.

129. A method for a disc controller, the disc controller coupled between a computer system and a disc drive, the disc drive including disk media, the disk media having at least one recording zone, the recording zone having a plurality of sectors and a plurality of tracks, the method comprising the steps of:

loading a plurality of registers to a microprocessor;

providing a target logical address to an address translation unit from a host interface;

determining with the address translation unit that the target logical address is a target logical cylinder-head-sector;

converting with the address translation unit the target logical cylinder-head-sector into a target logical block address;

providing a memory including a plurality of tables for conversion of the target logical block address into a target physical address;

searching by the address translation unit a first accessed one of the plurality of tables for a greatest logical block address which is not greater than the target logical block address;

determining with the address translation unit an index to a second accessed one of the plurality of tables for fetching information for converting the target logical block address into the target physical address; and

converting with the address translation unit the target logical address block address into the target physical address;

the target logical cylinder-head-sector being converted into the target logical block address by the steps of;

multiplying a logical cylinder number from the target logical cylinder-head-sector by a head/drive number to provide a first quantity;

adding a logical head number from the target logical cylinder-head-sector to the first quantity to provide a second quantity;

multiplying the second quantity by a sector/track number to provide a third quantity; and

adding the third quantity to a logical sector number from the target logical cylinder-head-sector minus one.

130. An apparatus for a disc controller comprising:

means for loading predefined information;

means for receiving a logical address;

means for determining a type of the logical address;

means for storing disk media information for converting the logical address into a physical address;

means for searching the disk media information to locate a greatest logical block address which is less than or equal to the logical address;

means for retrieving defect information associated with the greatest logical block address from among the disk media information;

means for determining an index into the disk media information using ones of the predefined information and the defect information;

means for retrieving zone information from the disk media information using the index;

means for converting the logical address into a physical address using the predefined information, the defect information and the zone information, said means for converting providing autonomous address translation of the logical address into the physical address;

the autonomous address translation being facilitated by a direct connection to a host interface task file, the host interface task file including data for beginning the autonomous address translation as soon as said data becomes available from a host.

131. An apparatus for a disc controller comprising:

means for loading predefined information;

means for receiving a logical address;

means for determining a type of the logical address;

means for storing disk media information for converting the logical address into a physical address;

means for searching the disk media information to locate a greatest logical block address which is less than or equal to the logical address;

means for retrieving defect information associated with the greatest logical block address from among the disk media information;

means for determining an index into the disk media information using ones of the predefined information and the defect information;

means for retrieving zone information from the disk media information using the index;

means for converting the logical address into a physical address using the predefined information, the defect information and the zone information, said means for converting providing autonomous address translation of the logical address into the physical address;

the autonomous address translation including autonomously aborting a current host command owing to receipt of a subsequent host command while the current host command is still being processed.

132. A method for a disc controller comprising the steps of:

step for loading predefined information;

step for receiving a logical address;

step for determining a type of the logical address;

step for storing disk media information for converting the logical address into a physical address;

step for searching the disk media information to locate a greatest logical block address which is less than or equal to the logical address;

step for retrieving defect information associated with the greatest logical block address from among the disk media information;

step for determining an index to the disk media information using ones of the predefined information and the defect information;

step for retrieving zone information from among the disk media information using the index; and

step for converting the logical address into a physical address using the predefined information, the defect information and the zone information, the step for converting providing autonomous address translation of the logical address into the physical address, the autonomous address translation being facilitated by a direct connection to a host interface task file, the host interface task file including data for beginning the autonomous address translation as soon as said data becomes available from a host.

133. A method for a disc controller comprising the steps of:

step for loading predefined information;

step for receiving a logical address;

step for determining a type of the logical address;

step for storing disk media information for converting the logical address into a physical address;

step for searching the disk media information to locate a greatest logical block address which is less than or equal to the logical address;

step for retrieving defect information associated with the greatest logical block address from among the disk media information;

step for determining an index to the disk media information using ones of the predefined information and the defect information;

step for retrieving zone information from among the disk media information using the index; and

step for converting the logical address into a physical address using the predefined information, the defect information and the zone information, the step for converting providing autonomous address translation of the logical address into the physical address, the autonomous address translation including autonomously aborting a current host command owing to receipt of a subsequent host command while the current host command is still being processed.