SMR-HDD media cache copy transfer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10529374-B2
Application number	US-201715452507-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 7, 2017
Priority date	Mar 7, 2017
Publication date	Jan 7, 2020
Grant date	Jan 7, 2020

Abstract

A shingled magnetic recording (SMR) hard disk drive (HDD) receives a read command for data associated with a range of logical block addresses (LBAs). In situations where a first portion of valid data associated with the range of LBAs is stored in an SMR region of the HDD and a second portion of valid data associated with the range of LBAs is stored in a non-SMR region of the HDD, the first portion is read from the SMR region in a single disk access and copied to a first buffer of the HDD, and the second portion is read from the non-SMR region in one or more disk accesses and copied to a second buffer of the HDD. The valid data associated with the range of LBAs stored in the second buffer are copied to the first buffer to be combined with valid data associated with the range of LBAs stored in the first buffer, and the combined valid data is then transferred to the host to complete execution of the read command.

First claim

I claim:

1. A method of reading data from a magnetic storage medium in response to a read command from a host, the method comprising:
reading first data from a shingled magnetic recording (SMR) region of the magnetic storage medium into a first buffer of a memory device different from the magnetic storage device, the first data including one or more fragments of valid user data and one or more fragments of invalid user data;
reading second data from a non-SMR region of the magnetic storage medium into a second buffer of the memory device, the second data including one or more fragments of updated user data corresponding to the one or more fragments of invalid user data;
overwriting the one or more fragments of invalid user data included in the first data that are read into the first buffer with the one or more fragments of the updated user data included in the second data that are read into the second buffer; and
transmitting data including the one or more fragments of valid user data and the overwritten one or more fragments of updated user data in the first buffer to the host.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the read command specifies a range of logical block addresses (LBAs), and the one or more fragments of valid user data stored in the SMR region and the one or more fragments of updated user data stored in the non-SMR region are associated with the range of LBAs.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein reading the first data from the SMR region of the magnetic storage medium into the first buffer comprises reading the first data from a range of LBAs referenced in the read command through a single disk access.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein reading the second data from the non-SMR region of the magnetic storage medium into the second buffer comprises:
determining a number of separate disk accesses for reading the second data from the non-SMR region of the magnetic storage medium; and
performing the separate disk accesses of the determined number.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein performing the separate disk accesses of the determined number comprises:
performing a first separate disk access to read a first portion of the second data from the non-SMR region and copying the first portion to the second buffer; and
performing a second separate disk access to read a second portion of the second data from the non-SMR region and copying the second portion to the second buffer.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein performing the separate disk access comprises:
reading a first fragment of the updated user data from a first physical location in the non-SMR region; and
reading a second fragment of the updated user data from a second physical location in the non-SMR region that is not adjacent to the first physical location in a rotational direction of the magnetic storage medium.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein performing the separate disk access further comprises reading media-cache data that are stored in physical locations that are between the first physical location and the second physical location in a rotational direction of the magnetic storage medium.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the media-cache data are not associated with a range of LBAs specified by the read command.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first physical location is within a predetermined number of sectors of the second physical location.

10. A magnetic data storage device comprising:
a magnetic rotatable disk with a writable surface;
a memory that includes a first buffer and a second buffer; and
a controller configured to cause data to be read from the writable surface of the magnetic rotatable disk in response to a read command from a host by:
reading first data from a shingled magnetic recording (SMR) region of the writable surface into the first buffer, the first data including one or more fragments of valid user data and one or more fragments of invalid user data;
reading second data from a non-SMR region of the writable surface into the second buffer, the second data including one or more fragments of updated user data corresponding to the one or more fragments of invalid user data; and
transmitting data including the one or more fragments of valid user data and the overwritten one or more fragments of updated user data in the first buffer to the host.

11. The magnetic data storage device of claim 10 , wherein the read command specifies a range of logical block addresses (LBAs), and the one or more fragments of valid user data stored in the SMR region and the one or more fragments of updated user data stored in the non-SMR region are associated with the range of LBAs.

12. The magnetic data storage device of claim 10 , wherein reading the first data from the non-SMR region of the writable surface comprises:
determining a number of separate disk accesses for reading the second data from the non-SMR region of the writable surface; and
performing the separate disk accesses of the determined number.

13. The magnetic data storage device of claim 12 , wherein performing the separate disk accesses of the determined number comprises:
performing a first separate disk access to read a first portion of the second data from the non-SMR region and copying the first portion to the second buffer; and
performing a second separate disk access to read a second portion of the second data from the non-SMR region and copying the second portion to the second buffer.

14. The magnetic data storage device of claim 12 , wherein performing the separate disk access comprises:
reading a first fragment of the updated user data from a first physical location in the non-SMR region; and
reading a second fragment of the updated user data from a second physical location in the non-SMR region that is not adjacent to the first physical location in a rotational direction of the magnetic rotatable disk.

15. The magnetic data storage device of claim 14 , wherein performing the separate disk access further comprises reading media-cache data that are stored in physical locations that are between the first physical location and the second physical location in a rotational direction of the magnetic rotatable disk.

16. The magnetic data storage device of claim 10 , wherein reading the first data from the SMR region of the writable surface into the first buffer comprises reading the first data from a range of LBAs referenced in the read command through a single disk access.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein
a first fragment of the updated user data stored in the non-SMR region of the magnetic storage medium corresponds to a first fragment of the invalid user data stored in the SMR region of the magnetic storage medium, and
a second fragment of the updated user data stored in the non-SMR region of the magnetic storage medium corresponds to a second fragment of the invalid user data stored in the SMR region of the magnetic storage medium.

18. The magnetic data storage device of claim 10 , wherein
a first fragment of the updated user data stored in the non-SMR region of the magnetic storage medium corresponds to a first fragment of the invalid user data stored in the SMR region of the magnetic storage medium, and
a second fragment of the updated user data stored in the non-SMR region of the magnetic storage medium corresponds to a second fragment of the invalid user data stored in the SMR region of the magnetic storage medium.

Assignees

• Toshiba Kk

Inventors

• Hall Andre C

Classifications

• G06F3/0676

  Magnetic disk device · CPC title

• G11B20/1217 Primary

  on discs · CPC title

• G06F3/0656

  Data buffering arrangements · CPC title

• G11B5/02

  Recording, reproducing, or erasing methods; Read, write or erase circuits therefor · CPC title

• G06F3/0611

  in relation to response time · CPC title