Version tracking of disk write operations

• US 20030133214A1
• Filed: 04/18/2002
• Published: 07/17/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Original Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Inventors: Miller, Michael H., Thiesfeld, Charles W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,031,085 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 360/48
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/10009 Improvement or modification of read or write signals
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/20 Disc-shaped record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/3027 used signal is digitally coded
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/36 Monitoring, i.e. supervising the progress of recording or reproducing for digital recording G11B20/00 and s.gr.; for monitoring, testing or measuring of TV recorders of the type covered by H04N5/76 and subgroups, see H04N17/06
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 5/012 Recording on, or reproducing or erasing from, magnetic disks G11B17/00, G11B19/00 take precedence

Abstract

The present invention is a disc drive storage unit incorporating novel apparatus, data structure and method for uniquely identifying data written during each write command operation of the disc drive storage unit. The disc drive storage unit attaches unique write identification data (sequence data, time data, or both) to host computer data written during each sector write operation. The unique write identification data is attached through independent action of the disc drive storage unit. The unique write identification data is attached to the host computer data in such a way that the unique write identification data is transparent to the host computer. The data structure relates the host computer data to the unique write identification data. The method documents the manner in which unique identification data is attached to, and detached from, the host computer data.

Claims

1. A method of storing data on a disc in a disc drive, the method comprising:

receiving data to be written to the disc during a write operation;

generating, on the disc drive, a write operation sequence indicator uniquely identifying the write operation as against all other write operations performed on the disc;

combining the write operation sequence indicator with the data to obtain a complex data sequence; and

writing the complex data sequence to the disc.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein generating a write operation sequence indicator comprises:

incrementing a write operation counter once for each write command which is received.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein generating a write operation sequence indicator comprises:

incrementing a power-on counter once for every time the disk drive is powered on.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein generating a write operation sequence indicator comprises:

incrementing a clock once for each minimum clock time period.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein generating a write operation sequence indicator comprises:

incrementing a write command counter once for each write command which is received during a single increment of the clock.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

reading the complex data sequence from the disc;

separating the write operation sequence indicator from the complex data sequence, yielding data written to the disc drive; and

transmitting the data read from the disc during a read operation.

7. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure, comprising:

a first field including data representing a prologue;

a second field including data representing user data;

a third field including data representing an epilogue containing epilogue data; and

a write operation sequence indicator located in one of the prologue and epilogue.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7 wherein the data structure further comprises:

the epilogue includes a pad area; and

the write operation sequence indicator is located in the pad area.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 7 wherein the data structure further comprises:

a fourth field including data representing check characters.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 7 wherein the data structure further comprises:

a fifth field including data representing an error correcting code; and

a sixth field including data representing a pad area.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 7 wherein the data structure further comprises:

the third field containing data representing a write operation sequence indicator is within the first field.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 7 wherein the data structure further comprises:

the third field containing data representing a write operation sequence indicator is between a fifth field containing data representing an error correcting code, and a sixth field containing data representing a pad area.

13. A disc drive storage unit comprising:

means for generating a write operation sequence identifier;

a storage disc; and

means for writing user data and the write operation sequence identifier to the disc.

14. The disc drive storage unit of claim 13 wherein the storage disc comprises:

a magnetic disc.

15. The disc drive storage unit of claim 13 wherein the storage disc comprises:

an optical disc.

16. The disc drive storage unit of claim 13 wherein the means for generating comprises:

a write command counter.

17. The disc drive storage unit of claim 13 wherein the means for generating comprises:

a clock.

18. The disc drive storage unit of claim 13 wherein the means for generating comprises:

a clock; and

a write command counter.

19. The disc drive storage unit of claim 13 further comprising:

a read head;

a data recovery component coupled to the read head; and

a discard component coupled to the data recovery component.