Multi-channel data recording

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9990949-B1
Application number	US-201715695385-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Sep 5, 2017
Priority date	Sep 5, 2017
Publication date	Jun 5, 2018
Grant date	Jun 5, 2018

Abstract

Embodiments described herein are operable with a storage device. In one embodiment, a method provides for buffering first portions of incoming sequential data from a plurality of channels in a buffer, and identifying locations of the storage device to store the first portions of the incoming sequential data. The method also provides for directly writing the first portions of the incoming sequential data from the buffer to the identified locations of the storage device.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method operable with a storage device, comprising:
buffering first portions of incoming sequential data from a plurality of channels in a buffer;
identifying locations of the storage device to store the first portions of the incoming sequential data; and
directly writing the first portions of the incoming sequential data from the buffer to the identified locations of the storage device, wherein:
the locations of the storage device are data sectors of a magnetic disk; and
the method further comprises aligning the data sectors to reduce data sector splits between servo wedges of the magnetic disk.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the storage device comprises a shingled magnetic recording (SMR) media.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein identifying locations of the storage device to store the first portions of the incoming data further comprises:
identifying adjacent sectors in a band of tracks of the SMR media to store the first portions of the incoming data.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein aligning the data sectors comprises:
determining a number of skew sectors for tracks of the magnetic disk based on a number of servo wedges and a number of data sectors per track for each zone of the magnetic disk.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
buffering second portions of the incoming sequential data in the buffer;
reading at least one sector of the storage device to retrieve data from a first of the plurality of channels to the buffer;
stitching the retrieved data from the first channel with the second portion of the incoming sequential data from the first channel; and
writing the stitched data to the storage device.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
writing a copy of the stitched data to a scratch pad of the storage device; and
freeing a cache of the storage device where the retrieved data from the first channel is located.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by controller of a storage system, directs the controller to:
buffer first portions of incoming sequential data from a plurality of channels in a buffer;
identify locations of the storage device to store the first portions of the incoming sequential data; and
directly write the first portions of the incoming sequential data from the buffer to the identified locations of the storage device, wherein:
the locations of the storage device are data sectors of a magnetic disk; and
the computer readable medium further comprises instructions that direct the controller to align the data sectors to reduce data sector splits between servo wedges of the magnetic disk.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 7 , wherein:
the storage device comprises a shingled magnetic recording (SMR) media.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising instructions that direct the controller to identify the locations of the storage device to store the first portions of the incoming data by identifying adjacent sectors in a band of tracks of the SMR media to store the first portions of the incoming data.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 7 , further comprising instructions that direct the controller to align the data sectors by determining a number of skew sectors for tracks of the magnetic disk based on a number of servo wedges and a number of data sectors per track for each zone of the magnetic disk.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 7 , further comprising instructions that direct the controller:
buffer second portions of the incoming sequential data in the buffer;
read at least one sector of the storage device to retrieve data from a first of the plurality of channels to the buffer;
stitch the retrieved data from the first channel with the second portion of the incoming sequential data from the first channel; and
write the stitched data to the storage device.

12. A storage system, comprising:
a storage device;
a buffer operable to receive first portions of incoming sequential data from a plurality of channels; and
a controller operable to identify locations of the storage device to store the first portions of the incoming sequential data, and to directly write the first portions of the incoming sequential data from the buffer to the identified locations of the storage device, wherein:
the locations of the storage device are data sectors of a magnetic disk; and
the controller is further operable to align the data sectors to reduce data sector splits between servo wedges of the magnetic disk.

13. The storage system of claim 12 , wherein:
the storage device comprises a shingled magnetic recording (SMR) media.

14. The storage system of claim 13 , wherein:
the controller is further operable to identify the locations of the storage device to store the first portions of the incoming data by identifying adjacent sectors in a band of tracks of the SMR media to store the first portions of the incoming data.

15. The storage system of claim 12 , wherein:
the controller is further operable to align the data sectors by determining a number of skew sectors for tracks of the magnetic disk based on a number of servo wedges and a number of data sectors per track for each zone of the magnetic disk.

16. The storage system of claim 12 , wherein:
the controller is further operable to buffer second portions of the incoming sequential data in the buffer, to read at least one sector of the storage device to retrieve data from a first of the plurality of channels to the buffer, to stitch the retrieved data from the first channel with the second portion of the incoming sequential data from the first channel, and to write the stitched data to the storage device.

17. The storage system of claim 16 , wherein:
the controller is further operable to write a copy of the stitched data to a scratch pad of the storage device, and to free a cache of the storage device where the retrieved data from the first channel is located.

18. A method operable with a storage device, comprising:
buffering first portions of incoming sequential data from a plurality of channels in a buffer;
identifying locations of the storage device to store the first portions of the incoming sequential data;
directly writing the first portions of the incoming sequential data from the buffer to the identified locations of the storage device;
buffering second portions of the incoming sequential data in the buffer;
reading at least one sector of the storage device to retrieve data from a first of the plurality of channels to the buffer;
stitching the retrieved data from the first channel with the second portion of the incoming sequential data from the first channel; and
writing the stitched data to the storage device.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein:
the storage device comprises a shingled magnetic recording (SMR) media.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein identifying locations of the storage device to store the first portions of the incoming data further comprises:
identifying adjacent sectors in a band of tracks of the SMR media to store the first portions of the incoming data.

21. The method of claim 18 , wherein:
the locations of the storage device are data sectors of a magnetic disk; and
the method further comprises aligning the data sectors to reduce data sector splits between servo wedges of the magnetic disk.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein aligning the data sectors comprises:
determining a number

Assignees

• Seagate Technology Llc

Inventors

• Liu Xiong
• Xie Wenxiang
• Yang Kai
• Li Quan

Classifications

• G06F2212/313

  In storage device · CPC title

• G11B5/5539 Primary

  Skew adjustment, e.g. adjustment of the position of the first sector in each track with respect to the other tracks, for improving, e.g. access performance · CPC title

• G11B5/012

  Recording on, or reproducing or erasing from, magnetic disks (G11B17/00, G11B19/00 take precedence) · CPC title

• G06F2212/312

  In storage controller · CPC title

• G06F12/0868

  Data transfer between cache memory and other subsystems, e.g. storage devices or host systems · CPC title