Methods and apparatus for enhancing uber rate for storage devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11537292-B2
Application number	US-202016910886-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 24, 2020
Priority date	Jun 24, 2020
Publication date	Dec 27, 2022
Grant date	Dec 27, 2022

Abstract

A method and apparatus for enhancing reliability of a data storage device. The storage device controller is configured to convert a typical UBER-type event to an MTBF (FFR) event by converting a data error event into a drive functional failure. In this context, the converted error is not counted as an UBER type event for purposes of determining the reliability of the storage device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A data storage device, comprising:
one or more non-transitory memory devices; and
a controller coupled to the one or more non-transitory memory devices, wherein the controller is configured to execute one or more instructions held in the one or more non-transitory memory devices to perform a method for improving reliability of the data storage device, comprising:
detecting whether a block failure of a block of the data storage device has occurred or a sector failure of the block of the data storage device has occurred, wherein the block failure is associated with an entirety of the block, and wherein the sector failure is associated with less than the entirety of the block; and
entering an assertion mode by the data storage device, wherein the assertion mode comprises:
converting an uncorrectable bit error (UBER) type data failure event to a mean time between failure (MTBF) event when the block failure has occurred, wherein the converting increases an MTBF value associated with the block while maintaining an UBER value associated with the block; and
reflecting the UBER type data failure event as the UBER type data failure event when the sector failure has occurred, wherein the reflecting increases the UBER value while maintaining the MTBF value associated with the block.

2. The data storage device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further comprise updating the storage device to reflect the block failure as a mean time between failure (MTBF) event.

3. The data storage device of claim 2 , wherein the detected block failure of the storage device is a read failure.

4. The data storage device of claim 2 , wherein an uncorrectable bit error rate (UBER) of the storage device is not updated as a result of the block failure.

5. The data storage device of claim 4 , wherein the instructions further comprise:
detecting a sector failure of the storage device; and
updating the UBER of the storage device to reflect the sector failure.

6. The data storage device of claim 5 , wherein the detected sector failure of the storage device is a read failure.

7. The data storage device of claim 6 , wherein the instructions further comprise causing the data storage device to a functional mode.

8. A data storage device, comprising:
one or more non-transitory memory devices; and
a controller coupled to the one or more non-transitory memory devices, wherein the controller is configured to execute one or more instructions held in the one or more non-transitory memory devices to perform a method for enhancing reliability of the data storage device, the method comprising:
receiving an interrupt indicating that a data failure event has occurred;
determining that the data failure event is either a block failure of a block of the data storage device or a sector failure of the block of the data storage device, wherein the block failure is associated with an entirety of the block, and wherein the sector failure is associated with less than the entirety of the block; and
either:
updating the data storage device to indicate that the data failure event is a mean time between failure (MTBF) event when the data failure event is the block failure, wherein the updating comprises converting an uncorrectable bit error (UBER) type data failure event to the MTBF event, and wherein the converting increases an MTBF value associated with the block while maintaining an UBER value associated with the block; or
reflecting the data failure event as the UBER type data failure event when the data failure event is the sector failure, wherein the reflecting increases the UBER value while maintaining the MTBF value associated with the block.

9. The data storage device of claim 8 , wherein the block failure is an uncorrectable bit error rate (UBER) type data failure event.

10. The data storage device of claim 8 , wherein the instructions further comprise putting the data storage device to enter an assertion mode.

11. The data storage device of claim 10 , wherein an UBER of the data storage device is not updated as result of the data failure event.

12. The data storage device of claim 11 , the instructions further comprising:
detecting a second interrupt indicating a second data failure event at the data storage device;
determining that the second data failure event is a sector failure; and
updating the data storage device to indicate that the second data failure event is an UBER event.

13. The data storage device of claim 12 , wherein the second data failure event is a write event.

14. The data storage device of claim 12 , the instructions further comprising placing the data storage device into a mode configured to reflect a block failure as an MTBF event.

15. A data storage device, comprising:
one or more non-transitory memory means; and
a controller means coupled to the one or more non-transitory memory means, wherein the controller means is configured to execute one or more instructions held in the one or more non-transitory memory means to perform a method for enhancing reliability of the data storage device, the method comprising:
receiving an interrupt indicating that a data failure event has occurred;
determining that the data failure event is a failure of at least one sector of a block of a non-transitory memory means of the one or more non-transitory memory means; and
either:
updating the data storage device to indicate that the data failure event is a mean time between failure (MTBF) event when the data failure event is a block failure, wherein a block failure is associated with an entirety of the block, wherein the updating comprises converting an uncorrectable bit error (UBER) type data failure event to the MTBF event, and wherein the converting increases an MTBF value of the block while maintaining an UBER value of the block; or
reflecting the UBER type data failure event as the UBER type data failure event when a sector failure has occurred, wherein a sector failure is associated with less than the entirety of the block, and wherein the reflecting increases the UBER value while maintaining the MTBF value associated with the block.

16. The data storage device of claim 15 , wherein the at least one sector is a block.

17. The data storage device of claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises placing the data storage device into a functional error mode.

18. The data storage device of claim 17 , wherein the data failure event is a read event.

19. The data storage device of claim 18 , wherein the method further comprises receiving a sector data failure event.

20. The data storage device of claim 19 , wherein the method further comprises updating the data storage device to reflect an uncorrectable bit error rate (UBER) event, and place the data storage device in a functional mode.

Assignees

• Western Digital Tech Inc

Inventors

• Inbar Karin
• Hodes Avichay Haim
• Lev Einat

Classifications

• G06F3/064

  Management of blocks · CPC title

• G06F3/0634

  by changing the state or mode of one or more devices · CPC title

• G06F11/008 Primary

  Reliability or availability analysis · CPC title

• G06F3/0619

  in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors · CPC title

• G06F3/0616 Primary

  in relation to life time, e.g. increasing Mean Time Between Failures [MTBF] · CPC title