Self-mirroring high performance disk drive

• US 6,978,345 B2
• Filed: 05/15/2001
• Issued: 12/20/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Valtrus Innovations Limited (f/k/a Dolya Holdco 9 Limited) (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Tomaszewski, Richard J., Fairchild, Steven Eugene
• Primary Examiner(s): MCLEAN MAYO, KIMBERLY N
• Application Number:
  US09/855,483
• Publication Number:
  US 20020188800A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,680 Days
• Field of Search: 711/112, 711/114, 360/8
• US Class Current: 711/112
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2084 on the same storage unit
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/1217 on discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2020/1238 track, i.e. the entire a spirally or concentrically arranged path on which the recording marks are located
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2020/1294 Increase of the access speed
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/415 Redundant array of inexpensive disks [RAID] systems

Abstract

A disk drive system including one or more platters, each platter supporting at least one recording surface, where the platters are aligned about a common central axis. The platters spin about the common central axis. A recording head is associated with each recording surface. An actuator mechanism couples to each recording head to move the recording head into proximity with selected portions of the recording surface in response to received commands. At least two replicates of data are stored in at least two data storage areas such that any one of the at least two replicates can be accessed to service a data access request.

Claims

1. A rotating data storage disk system comprising:

a plurality of concentric tracks defined on a disk;

said disk including at least two date storage areas, wherein each area is sized to store a copy of a set of data and the data storage areas are substantially equidistantly spaced from each other and wherein all of the at least two data storage areas are located within plus or minus one track of the same track;

a drive mechanism coupled to the disk;

an integrated controller that manages data storage operations of the disk system, wherein the integrated controller maintains a first redundant data table in volatile memory, and wherein the first redundant data table comprises information about one or more deferred write commands; and

,

a remote controller in communication with the drive mechanism for maintaining data coherency between the at least two data storage areas and keeping track of deferred writes to the at least two data storage areas of the disk, wherein the remote controller maintains a second redundant data table in non-volatile memory, wherein the second redundant data table comprises information about one or more deferred write commands.

2. The rotating data storage disk of claim 1 wherein the at least two data storage areas are located at radially opposed locations at a substantially 180 degree angular offset with respect to a spin axis of the rotating data storage disk and mirrored across the spin axis.

3. The rotating data storage disk of claim 1 wherein the disk further comprises at least two magnetic recording surfaces, wherein the data storage areas are formed in a single one of the at least two magnetic recording surfaces.

4. The rotating date storage disk of claim 1 wherein the disk further comprises at least two magnetic recording surfaces, wherein the data storage areas are fanned in separate ones of the at least two magnetic recording surfaces.

5. The rotating data storage disk of claim 1 wherein the disk further comprises an optical recording surface.

6. The rotating data storage disk of claim 1 wherein the disk further comprises a magneto-optical recording surface.

7. The rotating data storage disk of claim 1 wherein the at least two data storage areas comprise “

n”

storage areas and the disk exhibits a characteristic virtual revolutions per minute (RPM) that is a multiple n of the actual spin speed of the rotating data storage disk.

8. The disk drive system of claim 1, wherein:

in response to a read request from a host computer, the remote controller uses the second redundant data table to determine whether the read request references data on the disk drive that is coherent.

9. The disk drive system of claim 8 wherein the remote controller issues a SCSI read command if the read request references coherent data.

10. The disk drive system of claim 8, wherein the remote controller issues a modified read command if the read request references data that is not coherent, wherein the modified read command specifies a location on the disk drive from which to read the referenced data.

11. The disk drive system of claim 1, wherein:

the integrated controller uses the information in the first redundant data table to perform a deferred write operation to one or more of the at least two data storage areas.

12. The disk drive system of claim 11 wherein, upon completion of the deferred write operation, the integrated controller:

removes an entry corresponding to the deferred write operation from the first redundant data table; and

transmits a notification to the remote controller indicating completion of the deferred write operation.

13. The disk drive system of claim 12 wherein, upon receipt of the notification, the remote controller removes an entry corresponding to the deferred write operation from the second redundant data table.

14. A disk drive system comprising:

one or more platters, each platter supporting at least one recording surface, wherein the platters are aligned about a common central axis;

a plurality of concentric tracks defined on the platter

means for spinning the platters about the common central axis;

a recording head associated with each recording surface;

an actuator mechanism coupled to each recording head to move the recording head into proximity with selected portions of the recording surface in response to received commands;

at least two replicates of data stored in at least two data storage areas such that any one of the at least two replicates can be accessed to service a data access request and all of the at least two data storage areas are located within plus or minus one track of the same track;

an integrated controller that manages data storage operations of the disk drive system, wherein the integrated controller maintains a first redundant data table in volatile memory, and wherein the first redundant data table comprises information about one or more deferred write commands; and

,

a remote controller for maintaining data coherency between the at least two data storage areas and keeping track of deferred writes to the data storage areas, wherein the remote controller maintains a second redundant data table in non-volatile memory, and wherein the second redundant data table comprises information about one or more deferred write commands.

15. The disk drive system of claim 14 wherein the data storage areas are located so as to be mirrored about a spin axis of the platters.

16. The disk drive system of claim 14 wherein the data storage areas are formed in a single one of the one or more platters.

17. The disk drive system of claim 14 wherein the data storage areas are formed in separate platters of the one or more platters.

18. The disk drive system of claim 14 wherein each recording surface further comprises a plurality of concentric tracks defined on the recording surface and each track is substantially aligned with a corresponding track on an adjacent platter, wherein all of the at least two data storage areas are located on adjacent tracks.

19. The disk drive system of claim 14 wherein the at least two data storage areas comprise “

n”

storage areas and the platter exhibits a characteristic virtual revolutions per minute (RPM) that is a multiple n of the actual spin speed of the rotating data storage platter.

20. The disk drive system of claim 14 further comprising:

a command processor having an interface to receive external disk access requests and coupled to provide the disk access request to the actuator mechanism; and

memory coupled to the command processor and configured to store redundant write access request commands such that the at least two replicates can be stored asynchronously.

21. The disk drive system of claim 14, wherein:

in response to a read request from a host computer, the remote controller uses the second redundant data table to determine whether the read request references data on the platter that is coherent.

22. The disk drive system of claim 14, wherein:

the integrated controller uses the information in the first redundant data table to perform a deferred write operation to one or more of the at least two data storage areas.

23. The disk drive system of claim 22 wherein, upon completion of the deferred write operation, the integrated controller:

removes an entry corresponding to the deferred write operation from the first redundant data table; and

transmits a notification to the remote controller indicating completion of the deferred write operation.

24. The disk drive system of claim 23 wherein, upon receipt of the notification, the remote controller removes an entry corresponding to the deferred write operation from the second redundant data table.

25. The disk drive system of claim 21 wherein the remote controller issues a SCSI read command if the read request references coherent data.

26. The disk drive system of claim 21, wherein the remote controller issues a modified read commend if the read request references data that is not coherent, wherein the modified read command specifies a location on the disk drive from which to read the requested data.