The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 10, 2004
Filed:
May. 31, 2000
Michael S. Rothberg, Foothill Ranch, CA (US);
Jan F. Rebalski, Foothill Ranch, CA (US);
Western Digital Technologies, Inc., Lake Forest, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention relates a method for accelerated scanning of a disk drive for media damage caused by rough handling. In the method, a current cylinder number is set to an initial target cylinder number. Data is read from a track associated with the current cylinder number and is checked for an error indicative of media damage. The current cylinder number is then set to a next target cylinder number that is equal to the current cylinder number plus a cylinder skip factor. The skip factor causes the current cylinder number to change by more than one cylinder number. For the new current cylinder number, the reading and checking steps are repeated. Unlike a full media scan that attempts to read all of the tracks of a disk drive, the accelerated media scan method of the invention skips tracks by skipping cylinder numbers to reduce the scan time while maintaining a great deal of certainty that media damage is detected. If media damage is detected, then a full media scan may be performed to determine the scope of the damage. Significant cost savings may be realized due to reductions in testing time provided by the accelerated scan method.