System for reading and storing formatting information after formatting a first storage medium and using the stored formatting information to format a second storage medium
First Claim
1. A method for formatting a storage medium using a storage drive, comprising the steps of:
- formatting a first storage medium using the storage drive;
reading the first storage medium, after the step of formatting of the first storage medium, to determine formatting information;
storing the formatting information of the first storage medium in a nonvolatile memory of the storage drive;
inputting a command from a user to format a second storage medium;
reading the formatting information from the nonvolatile memory of the storage drive; and
formatting the second storage medium using the formatting information which was read from the nonvolatile memory of the storage drive.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A storage device or drive such as a disk or tape drive including a nonvolatile erasable semiconductor memory which stores parameters which control the operation of the storage device. Through a user interface on a host computer, the user is capable of changing the parameters which are used to control the storage device, allowing the user to configure the operation of the storage device in any manner desired. The parameters which are changeable within the storage device relate to responses to the detection of errors within the storage device, data encryption algorithms, the stopping of a disk from spinning, the caching of the storage device, and data compression algorithms. The storage drive also has the capability to perform a stand-alone formatting operation. After formatting a storage medium with the assistance of the host computer, the formatted medium is read by the drive and stored in the nonvolatile memory of the storage drive. The next time a medium needs to be formatted, the formatting information is read from the memory of the storage drive to perform the formatting, thus freeing the host computer to perform other tasks.
105 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for formatting a storage medium using a storage drive, comprising the steps of:
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formatting a first storage medium using the storage drive; reading the first storage medium, after the step of formatting of the first storage medium, to determine formatting information; storing the formatting information of the first storage medium in a nonvolatile memory of the storage drive; inputting a command from a user to format a second storage medium; reading the formatting information from the nonvolatile memory of the storage drive; and formatting the second storage medium using the formatting information which was read from the nonvolatile memory of the storage drive. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A storage drive which formats a storage medium, comprising:
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a nonvolatile memory different from the storage medium; means for reading a formatted first storage medium to determine formatting information of the first storage medium; means for writing the formatting information of the formatted first storage medium into the nonvolatile memory; an input device which receives a command from a user to format a second storage medium; and means for formatting the second storage medium using the formatting information stored in the nonvolatile memory of the storage drive. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification