U.S. patent application number 14/673342 was filed with the patent office on 2016-10-06 for system and method of conducting in-place write operations in a shingled magnetic recording (smr) drive.
The applicant listed for this patent is HGST Netherlands B.V.. Invention is credited to Ryoji FUKUHISA.
Application Number | 20160293207 14/673342 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 56939666 |
Filed Date | 2016-10-06 |
United States Patent
Application |
20160293207 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
FUKUHISA; Ryoji |
October 6, 2016 |
SYSTEM AND METHOD OF CONDUCTING IN-PLACE WRITE OPERATIONS IN A
SHINGLED MAGNETIC RECORDING (SMR) DRIVE
Abstract
A system and method is described that allows random write
operations regions utilizing shingled magnetic recording. The
method includes receiving a request to re-write a logical block
address (LBA) with new data, wherein the LBA is mapped to a
physical block address (PBA) on a storage medium. The method
further includes determining whether the data is eligible for a
write-in place update wherein the data is written to an area of the
I-region that has previously been written with shingled data
tracks, wherein the eligibility determination is based on a mapping
list of LBAs to PBAs. The method also includes writing the new data
to the area of the I-region determined to be eligible for a
write-in place update, wherein writing the new data further
includes writing management information to the I-region that
identifies a starting LBA of the write-in place update, and a
length of the write-in place update.
Inventors: |
FUKUHISA; Ryoji; (Tokyo,
JP) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
HGST Netherlands B.V. |
Amsterdam |
|
NL |
|
|
Family ID: |
56939666 |
Appl. No.: |
14/673342 |
Filed: |
March 30, 2015 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 3/064 20130101;
G06F 12/0246 20130101; G06F 3/0644 20130101; G11B 2020/1238
20130101; G06F 2212/70 20130101; G06F 3/0608 20130101; G06F 3/0676
20130101; G06F 2212/7201 20130101; G06F 2212/253 20130101; G11B
20/1217 20130101; G06F 2212/1041 20130101 |
International
Class: |
G11B 20/12 20060101
G11B020/12; G06F 3/06 20060101 G06F003/06; G06F 12/10 20060101
G06F012/10 |
Claims
1. A method of randomly writing data to a storage device that
includes E-regions and I-regions, wherein data written to at least
the I-region is written utilizing a shingled magnetic recording
scheme, the method comprising: receiving a request to write data to
a logical block address (LBA), wherein the LBA is mapped to a
physical block address (PBA) on a storage medium of the storage
device; determining whether the data is eligible for a write-in
place update to an area of the I-region, wherein initial
eligibility of write-in place updates is based on a mapping list of
LBAs to PBAs; and writing the data to the area of the I-region
determined to be eligible for a write-in place update, wherein
writing the data further includes writing management information to
the I-region that identifies a starting LBA of the write-in place
update and a length of the write-in place update.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the data is
eligible for the write-in place update includes determining whether
data before and after the LBA in the I-region has been written to
an E-region of the E-regions.
3. The method of claim 1, further including: receiving a subsequent
request to re-write the LBA with new data; determining whether a
write-in place update was previously provided with respect to the
LBA; retrieving management information from the I-region associated
with the LBA; and determining, based on the management information,
whether the new data is eligible for a write-in place update to the
area of the I-region.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining, based on the
management information written to the I-region, whether the new
data is eligible for a write-in place update to the area of the
I-region includes determining whether the length of data to be
written to the area is equal to or less than a length associated
with the area as provided by the management information.
5. The method of claim 3, further including: updating the
management information associated with the LBA; and writing the new
data and the updated management information to the I-region as part
of the write-in place update.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the LBA is a first LBA and the
area is a first area, further including: receiving a subsequent
request to write subsequent data to a second logical block address
(LBA), wherein the second LBA is sequential to the first LBA;
determining whether the data is eligible for a write-in place
update to a second area of the I-region, wherein eligibility is
determined based on management information written to the I-region
that identifies a starting LBA of the write-in place update, and a
length of the write-in place update associated with the first LBA;
and extending the range of the initial write-in place update to
include the subsequent data by updating management information
associated with the write-in place update and updating the
management information to reflect the change in range of the
write-in place update.
7. A storage device comprising: a storage medium that includes an
E-region and an I-region, wherein the I-region is written with data
according to a shingled magnetic recording (SMR) scheme; and a disk
controller configured to: receive a request to write data to a
logical block address (LBA), wherein the disk controller includes a
mapping interface that includes a table that maps LBAs to physical
block addresses (PBAs) on the storage medium; determine whether the
data is eligible for an initial write-in place update to an area of
the I-region based on the table that maps LBAs to PBAs; in response
to determining that data can be written in place in the I-region,
add management information to the data, wherein the management
information includes a starting LBA and a length of the write-in
place update; and write the data including the management
information to the area of the storage medium mapped to the
LBA.
8. (canceled)
9. The storage device of claim 7, wherein the disk controller is
configured to determine whether subsequent write-in place updates
can be conducted in an area of the I-region based on the management
information stored at the location of the write-in place
update.
10. The storage device of claim 9, wherein the management
information includes a starting LBA address and a length of the
write-in place update.
11. The storage device of claim 7, wherein the management
information is updated each time new data is written to the
write-in place update.
12. A method of randomly writing data to a storage device that
includes E-regions and I-regions, wherein data written to at least
the I-region is written utilizing a shingled magnetic recording
scheme, the method comprising: receiving a request to write data to
a logical block address (LBA), wherein the LBA is mapped to a
physical block address (PBA) on a storage medium of the storage
device; determining whether a previous write-in place update has
been provided with respect to the requested LBA; retrieving
management information from the I-region if the requested LBA was
the subject of a previous write-in place operation; and utilizing
the management information to write the data directly to the
I-region as part of a write-in place update based on the management
information.
13. The method of claim 12, further including: determining whether
the requested LBA is eligible for a write-in place update by
reviewing a LBA to PBA mapping table if no previous write-in place
update has been provided at the requested LBA.
14. The method of claim 13, further including: writing the data to
the area of the I-region determined to be eligible for a write-in
place update, wherein writing the data further includes writing
management information to the I-region that identifies a starting
LBA of the write-in place update, and a length of the write-in
place update.
15. The method of claim 12, wherein the management information
includes a starting LBA address and a length of the write-in place
update.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present invention is related to storage devices and in
particular to storage devices utilizing shingled magnetic recording
(SMR) schemes to write data to the storage device.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Typically, a storage device includes a storage medium
comprised of a plurality of data tracks. The storage capacity of
the storage device is related, in part, to how wide the data tracks
are and how closely they can be packed together. By decreasing the
width of the data tracks and/or the spacing between adjacent data
tracks, the overall capacity of the storage device can be
increased.
[0003] In a perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) system, the
direction of magnetization associated with a magnetic storage
medium is perpendicular to the surface of the medium. The width of
data tracks written using the PMR system is determined based on the
width of the write pole. By narrowing the width of the write pole,
the width of the data tracks is decreased and areal density is
increased. However, as write pole width continues to narrow, it
becomes progressively more difficult to generate a magnetic field
of sufficient strength to change the direction of magnetization of
the magnetic storage medium.
[0004] One solution that has been proposed and utilized is the use
of shingled data tracks in what is known as shingled magnetic
recording (SMR) systems. In a SMR system, the width of the write
pole remains the same, but data tracks are written sequentially
with each successive data track being shingled (i.e., written to
partially overlap) over the previously written data track. In this
way, the data track that is partially written over is narrowed by
the shingling of the next track, resulting in the desired narrow
track width. This is sometimes referred to as a "write wide, read
narrow" system, because the width of the write head may be
substantially wider than the width of the read head.
[0005] A drawback of SMR systems, however, is the inability to
re-write data once it has been shingled. Because the width of the
write head is wide, re-writing a shingled track results in adjacent
tracks being damaged. That is, data must be written sequentially,
and a re-write of the data track requires re-writing of all
shingled data tracks, not just the track that corresponds with the
new data to be written.
[0006] To address this shortcoming, storage mediums utilizing SMR
are divided into different types of regions, commonly referred to
as an "I-region" and an "E-region". The E-region is typically much
smaller than the I-region (i.e., holds much less data), and is used
as a cache to store data before writing sequentially in the
I-region. The E-region is typically not shingled, and therefore
allows random write operations. The I-region is shingled, and
therefore must be written sequentially with data from the E-region.
However, this requires data to be written twice; once to the
E-region or cache and then a second time from E-region to the
I-region. This is a time-consuming operation which decreases the
overall performance of the storage device.
[0007] A solution to this problem is to write data directly to the
I-region without first going through the E-region or cache.
However, this requires additional overhead to maintain because a
logical block address (utilized by the host system) will not
correspond with a particular physical block address on the storage
device. That is, the logical block address will need to be shifted
or re-mapped to different physical block addresses as data is
re-written to the I-region. An indirection mapping system may be
utilized to keep track of mapping between logical block addresses
(LBAs) and physical block addresses (PBAs). In addition, if data is
being written directly to a shingled area (e.g., I-region), a
determination must be made whether the data write operation will
adversely affect neighboring data tracks. This requires additional
overhead to determine and keep track of whether adjacent data
tracks include valid data that cannot be lost in which data cannot
be re-written easily. Typically, directly writing to the shingled
area or I-region (i.e., write-in place update) requires a searching
review of the mapping of all LBAs to PBAs, which is a
time-consuming and therefore cost prohibitive procedure. It would
therefore be beneficial to provide a system that allows in-place
updates of shingled data while reducing the cost or overhead
associated with such updates.
SUMMARY
[0008] According to one example of the disclosure, a method is
described that allows random write operations to a storage medium
that utilizes shingled magnetic recording (SMR). The method
includes receiving a request to re-write a logical block address
(LBA) with new data, wherein the LBA is mapped to a physical block
address (PBA) on a storage medium. The method further includes
determining whether the data is eligible for a write-in place
update wherein the data is written to an area of the I-region that
has previously been written with shingled data tracks, wherein the
eligibility determination is based on a mapping list of LBAs to
PBAs. The method also includes writing the new data to the area of
the I-region determined to be eligible for a write-in place update,
wherein writing the new data further includes writing management
information to the I-region that identifies a starting LBA of the
write-in place update, and a length of the write-in place
update.
[0009] According to another embodiment, a storage device includes a
storage medium and a disk controller. The storage medium includes
an E-region and an I-region, wherein the I-region is written with
data according to a shingled magnetic recording (SMR) scheme. The
disk controller controls read/write operations to the storage
medium, and includes a mapping interface that includes one or more
tables for mapping logical block addresses (LBAs) to physical block
addresses (PBAs) on the storage medium. The disk controller
determines whether data can be written in place in the I-region,
and if written in place the disk controller adds management
information to the I-region location of the write-in place
update.
[0010] According to another embodiment, a method is described for
randomly writing data to a storage device that includes E-regions
and I-regions, wherein data written to at least the I-region is
written utilizing a shingled magnetic recording scheme. The method
includes receiving a request to write data to a logical block
address (LBA), wherein the LBA is mapped to a physical block
address (PBA) on a storage medium. A determination is made whether
a previous write-in place update has been provided with respect to
the requested LBA. If the requested LBA was the subject of a
previous write-in place operation, then management information is
retrieved from the I-region and is utilized to write data directly
to the I-region as part of a write-in place update.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a data storage system according
to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0012] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating in more detail the
mapping interface between the host and the storage medium according
to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0013] FIG. 3 is a simplified view of a plurality of shingled data
tracks that illustrates a write in-place operation.
[0014] FIG. 4 is a simplified view of an I-region that illustrates
a plurality of write in-place updates and corresponding management
information provided according to an embodiment of the present
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0015] The present disclosure describes a system and method of
providing write in-place capabilities to a shingled magnetic
recording (SMR) drive. In particular, the present disclosure
describes the inclusion of management information with the write
in-place updates. This obviates the need for the mapping interface
to maintain overhead of interleaving data from separate buffers for
communication to a non-volatile memory (NVM) device via a bus. In
particular, the disclosed system and method minimizes host system
resources required to interleave data within the framework of the
interface standards.
[0016] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of system 100, which includes
media storage device 102 and host system 103 according to an
embodiment of the present invention. Media storage device 102
includes storage medium 104, read/write head 106, actuator arm 108,
voice coil motor (VCM) 110, and disk controller 112, which includes
mapping interface 114, host interface 116, read/write (R/W)
controller 118, and servo controller 120.
[0017] During operation, storage medium 104 is rotated and
read/write head 106 is selectively positioned by VCM 110 and
actuator arm 108 between the inner diameter and outer diameter of
storage medium 104 to read and/or write data to the medium. In the
embodiment shown in FIG. 1, storage medium 104 is a magnetic
storage medium, comprised of a plurality of concentric data tracks
122. In other embodiments, rather than concentric data tracks,
storage medium 104 may be comprised of a plurality of spiraled data
tracks. Although in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, media storage
device 102 is illustrated as storing all data to storage medium
104, in other embodiments media storage device, in other
embodiments media storage device 102 may additionally include a
solid-state storage medium in what is sometimes referred to as a
hybrid disk drive.
[0018] Disk controller 112 acts as the intermediary between host
system 103 and storage medium 104, and is responsible for
controlling the position of read/write head 106 over a desired
track, providing write signals to read/write head 106 to write data
to storage medium 104, converting read signals sensed by read/write
head 106 to read data for provision to host system 104, and
managing the mapping between logical addresses (e.g., logical block
addresses (LBAs)) utilized by host system 103 and physical
addresses (e.g. physical block addresses (PBAs) that define where
on the surface of storage medium 104 data is stored or will be
stored. Mapping interface 114--as discussed in more detail
below--is responsible for managing the mapping between LBAs and
PBAs. In some systems, this may include a direct mapping system in
which each LBA is mapped to a specific PBA. To provide more
flexibility, however, mapping interface 114 may utilize an
indirection mapping system in which LBAs are dynamically mapped to
PBAs. Host interface 116 is responsible for encoding/decoding
communications with host system 103. R/W controller 118 is
responsible for encoding/decoding information written to and read
from storage medium 104, while servo controller 120 is responsible
for providing control instructions to VCM 110 to selectively
position read/write head 106 over a desired track.
[0019] As discussed in more detail below, data can be written to
storage medium 104 using a variety of methods, including
perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) and shingled magnetic
recording (SMR), among others. In some embodiments, some areas of
storage medium 104 are written utilizing one recording method
(e.g., PMR), while other areas are written using a different
recording method (e.g., SMR). In particular, SMR has gained in
popularity because it allows data tracks to be more densely packed
together than traditional recording methods. The idea behind SMR
writing is that each written track intentionally overlaps a portion
of a previously written track, in effect narrowing the width of the
previously written track. In this way, by narrowing the width of
each data track, additional data can be written to the storage
medium 104.
[0020] A negative by-product of this type of writing scheme is that
a data track--once written--cannot be re-written without
unintentionally re-writing surrounding tracks. Thus, a shingled
magnetic recording scheme does not allow write-in place updates.
Indirection systems implemented by mapping interface 114 have been
utilized in the past to keep track of dynamically mapping between
LBAs and PBAs, but there are practical limits to the amount of
maintenance that can be provided by mapping interface 114. The
present invention overcomes these limitations by including
management information with data written to storage medium 104. The
management information is utilized to determine whether data can be
written directly to the shingled data region (e.g. I-region)
without requiring a costly review of the LBA-to-PBA mapping table
stored by mapping interface 114.
[0021] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating in more detail the
mapping interface between the host and the storage medium according
to an embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment shown
in FIG. 2, host system 103 provides a logical block address (LBA)
to mapping interface 114, which is converted by LBA-IBA converter
202 to an indirect block address (IBA), which is in turn converted
by IBA-PBA converter 204 to a physical block address (PBA).
[0022] Storage medium 104 is divided into a plurality of different
regions, including a plurality of I-regions 208, a plurality of
guard regions 210, and a plurality of E-regions 212, wherein
plurality includes one or more. E-regions 212 are typically used as
staging areas where data is written--with or without
shingling--prior to shingled writing of the data in one of the
I-regions. In some embodiments, in addition to an E-region, storage
medium may also include a cache region for initial or short-term
storage of data. Traditionally, data is written to one of the
plurality of E-regions 212, and then subsequently written
sequentially to I-regions 208. In addition, updates to data already
transferred to one of the plurality of I-regions 208 may be written
to one of the plurality of E-regions. When enough data associated
with I-region 208 has been updated, a defragmenting-type operation
is performed to re-shingle only valid data in one of the plurality
of I-regions. However, this requires data to be written twice; once
to the E-region and then again to the I-region.
[0023] To avoid re-writing data, the present invention provides for
in-place updates directly to the I-region. One of the conditions of
an in-placed update to a region utilizing SMR, is that it cannot
destroy valid data stored on adjacent data tracks as a result of
the shingling operation. As discussed in more detail with respect
to FIGS. 3 and 4, the present invention utilizes two mechanisms for
determining whether an in-place update is appropriate. The first is
a search of the mapping tables maintained by LBA-IBA
converter/table 202 and/or IBA-PBA converter/table 204 to determine
whether data tracks in the region surrounding a desired write-in
place update contains valid data. If the search of the mappings
table or tables determines that a location within I-region 208 is
appropriate for a write-in place update, then the data can be
written directly to the I-region without first requiring a write to
E-region 212. In addition, the present invention writes management
information to the location of the write-in place update that
describes the precise location and amount of space available for a
write-in place update. In this way, subsequent write-in place
attempts to this region can rely on the management information
stored to the I-region, and will not require a full search of the
LBA to PBA mapping tables (as provided by LBA-IBA converter/table
202 and IBA-PBA converter/table 204).
[0024] FIG. 3 is a simplified view of a plurality of shingled data
tracks that illustrates a write in-place operation according to an
embodiment of the present invention. Data tracks T0-T17 are
shingled data tracks, written within one of the plurality of
I-regions 208 (as shown in FIG. 2). Shaded data tracks (e.g.,
tracks T0-T1, T6-T11, T16 and T17) represent valid data tracks or
data tracks that have not been re-written to another location on
storage medium 104--such as E-region 212. Non-shaded data tracks
(e.g., tracks T2-T5, T12-T13, and T15-T16) represent data tracks
whose data is no longer valid because new or updated data has been
written to E-region 212. As illustrated, adjacent data tracks at
least partially overlap previously written data tracks. For
example, data track T1 partially overlaps data track T0 as part of
a shingling operation that narrows the width of data track T0.
Likewise, writing data track T2 partially overlaps the previously
written data track T1. As a result, it is not possible to re-write
data to data track T0 without damaging data stored to data track
T1.
[0025] Given the status of the data tracks illustrated in FIG. 3, a
write-in place update can be made with respect to some of the data
tracks. For example, a write-in place update has already been
conducted with respect to track T16, which is written with new data
over previously written track T14 as part of a write-in place
operation. In this case, tracks T12-T15, as well as original data
track T16 (unshaded) no longer included valid data, so re-writing
track T16 (shaded version) as part of a write-in place operation
does not result in a loss of any valid data. In addition, a
write-in place update may be conducted starting with track T6
through track T13 because the data track both before and after a
target LBA is no longer valid (e.g., has been written to E-region
212). For example, data tracks T2-T5 no longer contain valid data
because updated information has been written to cache region 212 or
E-region 214. Similarly, data tracks T12-T13 no longer contain
valid data. As a result, data tracks T6-T11 are candidates for
write-in place updates because writing new data to these tracks
will not result in a loss of valid data associated with tracks
T2-T5 or track T12-T13. However, determining whether particular
LBAs are eligible for write-in place updates requires confirmation
that adjacent data tracks are not occupied with valid data via
review of the entire LBA-to-PBA mapping tables, described with
respect to FIG. 2, which is a time-consuming and therefore costly
process.
[0026] As discussed above, to mitigate the cost associated with
determining whether a write-in place update may be utilized, the
present invention includes management information at the location
of the write-in place update in the I-region. For example,
management information may include the starting LBA and/or starting
IBA addresses associated with the write-in place update, the number
of tracks utilized by the write-in place update (i.e., length), and
the amount of tracks available to be utilized by subsequent
write-in place updates (i.e., committed length).
[0027] A benefit of adding management information directly to the
I-region location of the write-in place updates is that this
information can be utilized during subsequent write-in place
updates and/or during defragmenting operations rather than relying
on a review of the entire LBA mapping table for a definition of the
location and boundaries of the write-in place update. For example,
with respect to FIG. 3, a review of the entire LBA-to-PBA mapping
table confirms that data tracks T6-T11 are eligible for a write-in
place update between data tracks T2 and T13. Having conducted a
write-in place update of these data tracks, a subsequent write-in
place operation associated with these data tracks would require a
search of the entire LBA-to-PBA mapping interface to determine
whether the data tracks are eligible for a write-in place update.
This is because, without management information, the mapping
interface can only determine whether a set of data tracks is
write-in place eligible based on mapping of data to surrounding
data tracks. By adding management information such as the starting
LBA associated with the write-in place update and length of
available space of a write-in place update, there is no need to
conduct a search of the entire mapping interface table to determine
whether adjacent data tracks will be harmed by the write-in place
update. Rather, the stored management information provides details
of the data stored to the write-in place update region as well as
the size of the region. In the case of a subsequent write-in place
update to the same LBA and having a length the same as or less than
a previous length of the write-in place update, the subsequent
write-in place update is allowed and the management information is
updated to reflect any changes to the write-in place update. In
another embodiment, a first write operation is written to a first
logical block address (e.g., 0x1000-0x1FFF), and associated
management information is updated to reflect the information (i.e.,
StartLBA+Length). A subsequent write operation to LBA 0x2000-0x2FFF
can utilize the management information previously stored to
determine that the subsequent write operation starts at the end of
the previous write operation, and therefore the subsequent write
operation can be written-in place to the I-region, in effect
extending the range of the first LBA.
[0028] A benefit of this approach is that the mapping interface
does not need to keep track of or store management information
related to write-in place updates. However, in one embodiment
mapping interface will store a marker or flag indicating that a
write-in place update has been conducted for a LBA or range of
LBAs. In this way, in response to a subsequent write request,
mapping interface determines based on the marker or flag whether a
previous write in place update has been conducted at the requested
LBA. If a write-in place update has been conducted at the requested
LBA, then management information is retrieved from the I-region and
utilized to determine whether a subsequent write-in place update is
appropriate. If no marker or flag is set indicating that a write-in
place update was previously conducted with respect to the requested
LBA, then a determination is made regarding whether a write-in
place update is appropriate based on a search of LBA to PBA mapping
tables.
[0029] FIG. 4 is a simplified view of an I-region that illustrates
a plurality of write in-place updates 402a and 402b and
corresponding management information 404a and 404b, respectively,
provided according to an embodiment of the present invention. As
described with respect to FIG. 3, the write-in place update is not
required to begin at an inner diameter (ID) and end at an outer
diameter (OD), or vice versa. Rather, the write-in place update
(e.g., write-in place update 402a or 402b) may be conducted at any
point within I-region 208 that meets the required criteria to
prevent erasure of valid data. In addition to the data associated
with the write-in place update itself, management information 404a,
404b is also included with the respective write-in place update. In
the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, management information includes the
starting address of the LBA assigned to the write-in place update
`StartLBA`, the starting address of the IBA assigned to the
write-in place update `StartIBA`, the length of the write-in place
update `Length`, the available length of the write-in place update
`CommittedLength`, as well as any other information required to
determine the location and length of the write-in place update. In
the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, first and second write-in place
updates 402a and 402b have been created in I-region 208. In other
embodiments, any number of write-in place updates may be utilized
within an I-region, so long as the condition are met for ensuring
that no data is lost in creation of a write-in place update.
[0030] Having created first and second write-in place updates 402a
and 402b in I-region 208, as shown in FIG. 4, management
information 404a and 404b associated with each write-in place
update can subsequently be utilized during updating of either
write-in place update locations without requiring a review of all
LBA mapping interfaces. For example, having created first write-in
place update 402a, which requires validating that data tracks both
prior to and subsequent to the selected write-in place location do
not contain valid data that will be destroyed by the write-in place
update, management information 404a stored along with the data can
be utilized to determine whether a subsequent write operation can
utilize the write-in place update location. A benefit of this
approach is that it does not require a subsequent determination,
via traversal of the LBA mapping table, to determine whether a
write-in place update is allowed. Rather, management information
404a associated with write-in place update 402a is utilized to make
that determination. As a result, a substantial amount of time is
saved when conducting subsequent write-in place updates.
[0031] The management information stored to the I-region is also
utilized during defragmenting operations. In particular, it
provides information necessary regarding the length of valid data
associated with the write-in place update location.
[0032] The present invention therefore provides a system and method
of providing random write operations in a drive that utilizes, in
at least one location, shingled magnetic recording (SMR) techniques
that would otherwise prevent random write operations. The present
invention utilizes conditions to determine whether a write-in place
update in a selected area of the I-region, and if so, adds
management information to the location within the I-region to
simplify subsequent write operations to locations within the
write-in place update location.
[0033] While the invention has been described with reference to an
exemplary embodiment(s), it will be understood by those skilled in
the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be
substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope
of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to
adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the
invention without departing from the essential scope thereof.
Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the
particular embodiment(s) disclosed, but that the invention will
include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended
claims.
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