Disk drive write method

Abstract

A disk drive includes a first flush cache memory location, a second flush cache memory location, and a controller for writing information associated with a flush cache write command alternatively between the first flush cache memory location and the second flush cache memory location.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is pointed out with particularity in the appended claims. However, a more complete understanding of the present invention may be derived by referring to the detailed description when considered in connection with the figures, wherein like reference numbers refer to similar items throughout the figures and:

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a disk drive that uses example embodiments described herein.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a disk drive and includes various electrical portions of the disk drive, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing portions of the read/write path of FIG. 2, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an schematic view of a disk drive that includes a plurality of flush cache memory locations, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a representation of a disk having at least a first flush cache memory location and a second flush cache memory location, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a method of writing data to the disk, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a representation of a computing system, according to an example embodiment.

Claims

1. A disk drive comprising: a first flush cache memory location;a second flush cache memory location; anda controller for writing information associated with a flush cache write command alternatively between the first flush cache memory location and the second flush cache memory location.

2. The disk drive of claim 1 wherein the first flush cache memory location and the second flush cache memory location are non volatile memory locations.

3. The disk drive of claim 2 wherein the non volatile memory locations are located remote from a disk of the disk drive.

4. The disk drive of claim 2 wherein the non volatile memory locations are a portion of a write channel associated with the disk drive.

5. The disk drive of claim 2 further comprising a printed circuit board attached to an enclosure of the disk drive, wherein the non volatile memory locations are located on the printed circuit board.

6. The disk drive of claim 2 wherein the non volatile memory locations are two portions of a single non volatile memory device.

7. The disk drive of claim 1 wherein the first flush cache memory location and the second flush cache memory location are located on a disk of the disk drive.

8. The disk drive of claim 1 wherein the first flush cache memory location and the second flush cache memory location are located on a track of a disk of the disk drive.

9. The disk drive of claim 1 wherein the first flush cache memory location and the second flush cache memory location are located on substantially opposite sides of a disk on the disk drive.

10. A method of writing information associated with a flush cache command to a disk drive comprising: writing information associated with a first cache command to one of a plurality of flush cache memory locations; andwriting information associated with a second flush cache command to the another of the plurality of flush cache memory locations.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising switching between the plurality of flush cache memory locations when storing information associated with successive flush cache commands.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising writing all the individual write commands associated with a flush cache command from one of the plurality of flush cache memory locations before writing information associated with another flush cache command to the one of the plurality of flush cache memory locations.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the plurality of flush cache memory locations corresponds to a number N, and wherein the information associated with a flush cache command includes at least one write command to be written to a specific location on a disk of a disk drive, the method further comprising writing individual write commands designated by a flush cache command to specific locations on the disk before receiving N additional flush cache commands.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising sending a signal indicating the completion of a write cache command after writing the information associated with the flush cache command to one of the plurality of flush cache memory locations.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein the plurality of flush cache memory locations are non volatile memory locations.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein the plurality of flush cache memory locations are located on the disk of a disk drive.

17. A machine-readable medium that provides instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising: writing information associated with a first cache command to one of a plurality of flush cache memory locations; andwriting information associated with a second flush cache command to the another of the plurality of flush cache memory locations.

18. The machine-readable medium of claim 17 that provides instructions that, when executed by a machine, further cause the machine to perform operations that further comprise switching between the plurality of flush cache memory locations when storing information associated with successive flush cache commands.

19. The machine-readable medium of claim 17 that provides instructions that, when executed by a machine, further cause the machine to perform operations that further comprise writing all the individual write commands associated with a flush cache command from one of the plurality of flush cache memory locations before writing information associated with another flush cache command to the one of the plurality of flush cache memory locations.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 17 that provides instructions that, when executed by a machine, further cause the machine to perform operations that further comprise sending a signal indicating the completion of a write cache command after writing the information associated with the flush cache command to one of the plurality of flush cache memory locations.