Seagate Technology Incorporated

Jonathan William Haines

William Herz

Frank William Bernett

Thomas Richardson Lenny

James Arthur Herbst

Aspects of the invention include a method and apparatus to manage the cache memory of a disc drive. In one aspect the data rates of different file read and write threads are used to determine the minimum seek time to allow the cache to be used more efficiently. In another aspect, the read/write cache segments are adjusted by determining the summation of the ratio between read/write cache segment sizes and the respective data rates and then adjusting the segment sizes to minimize the seek times for the data streams.

Method and apparatus for disc drive buffer segment management

An apparatus, modules, means, and computer readable media for and a method of logging critical events to a critical event log storage area on a disc in a disc drive are disclosed. The disc drive having a data storage disc is operably connected to a host computer. The data communication between the host computer and the disc drive is established via a disc drive interface. The disc drive interface may be an ATA disc drive interface. A power-on operational status of the disc drive with the host computer is determined. Then a critical event is determined without a host computer intervention. A set of critical events are predefined and stored in the firmware of the disc drive. The critical event can be monitored and logged either during an on-line data collection mode or an off-line data collection mode. During the off-line data collection mode, the firmware performs off-line scan of the disc drive in the background. The determined critical event is logged to the critical event log by reading the critical event log from the critical event log storage area on the disc; appending the determined critical event to the critical event log; and storing the appended critical event log to the critical event log storage area on the disc.

Critical event log for a disc drive

A method of controlling an actuator in a disc drive to perform a seek operation prior to a read operation is disclosed. A radial distance between the initial track and the target track is determined. A rotational distance between the initial head rotational position and the target rotational position is also determined. The magnitude of the performance benefit to be gained by reading pre-fetch and post-fetch data is estimated. Then a seek velocity profile is selected based on the radial distance, the rotational distance and the estimated magnitude of the performance benefit that would be gained by reading pre-fetch and post-fetch data. The actuator then is controlled using the selected seek profile. A disc drive for implementing this method is also provided.

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Lafayette, CO, United States of America

Jonathan William Haines