# US 12,008,252 B2 · Data storage device with data padding and safe and efficient alignment of data zones with data containers > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,008,252 B2 - Document ID: US12008252B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/850,945 - Filed: 2022-06-27 - Published: 2023-12-28 - Granted: 2024-06-11 - Earliest claimed: 2022-06-27 - Assignees: Western Digital Technologies, Inc. - Applicants: Western Digital Technologies, Inc. - Inventors: Scott Burton; Daniel J. Wade; Eric B. Smith - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12008252B2 ## CPC - G06F 3/064: {Management of blocks} - G06F 3/0607: {by facilitating the process of upgrading existing storage systems, e.g. for improving compatibility between host and storage device} - G06F 3/0619: {in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors} - G06F 3/0674: {Disk device} - G06F 3/0676: {Magnetic disk device} - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract Various illustrative aspects are directed to a data storage device, comprising one or more disks; an actuator mechanism configured to position heads proximate to a recording medium of the disks; and one or more processing devices. The processing devices are configured to detect a criterion for inserting padding on the recording medium proximate to data containers to be written to the recording medium, the containers configured for assigning logic blocks to the containers, the logic blocks configured to store data to be written in an interleaved pattern across sectors based on a distributed sector encoding scheme, wherein detecting the criterion comprises detecting a mismatch in size between at least a portion of a zone and an integer number of containers in which to write the at least a portion of the zone; and insert mapping indicators to a mapping to indicate padding blocks proximate to the containers. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A data storage device, comprising: one or more disks; an actuator mechanism configured to position one or more heads proximate to a recording medium of the one or more disks; and one or more processing devices, configured to: detect a criterion for inserting padding on a recording medium proximate to one or more data containers to be written to the recording medium, the data containers configured for assigning a plurality of logic blocks to the data containers, the logic blocks configured to store data to be written in an interleaved pattern across a plurality of sectors based on a distributed sector encoding scheme, wherein detecting the criterion comprises detecting a mismatch in size between at least a portion of a zone and an integer number of one or more of the data containers in which to write the at least a portion of the zone; and insert, in response to detecting the criterion, one or more mapping indicators to a mapping of the recording medium to indicate one or more padding blocks proximate to the one or more data containers on the recording medium, wherein the one or more processing devices are further configured such that: inserting the one or more mapping indicators to the mapping of the recording medium comprises inserting one or more indications of one or more designated defects to the mapping. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The data storage device of claim 1, wherein the zone comprises a host-managed data zone to be managed by a host, external to the data storage device. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The data storage device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processing devices are further configured such that a number of the one or more designated defects inserted to the mapping corresponds to a number of data blocks of the mismatch in size between the at least a portion of the zone and the one or more of the data containers. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The data storage device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processing devices are further configured such that the one or more designated defects inserted to the mapping are inserted at one or more positions prior to a final block of a final data container of the one or more of the data containers. ### Claim 5 A data storage device, comprising: one or more disks; an actuator mechanism configured to position one or more heads proximate to a recording medium of the one or more disks; and one or more processing devices, configured to: detect a criterion for inserting padding on a recording medium proximate to one or more data containers to be written to the recording medium, the data containers configured for assigning a plurality of logic blocks to the data containers, the logic blocks configured to store data to be written in an interleaved pattern across a plurality of sectors based on a distributed sector encoding scheme, wherein detecting the criterion comprises detecting a mismatch in size between at least a portion of a zone and an integer number of one or more of the data containers in which to write the at least a portion of the zone; and insert, in response to detecting the criterion, one or more mapping indicators to a mapping of the recording medium to indicate one or more padding blocks proximate to the one or more data containers on the recording medium, wherein the one or more processing devices are further configured such that: detecting the criterion comprises detecting a mismatch in size between a track and an integer number of one or more of the data containers to write to the track. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The data storage device of claim 5, wherein the one or more processing devices are further configured such that: inserting the one or more mapping indicators to the mapping of the recording medium comprises inserting one or more indications of one or more designated defects to a mapping of the track, in the mapping of the recording medium. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The data storage device of claim 6, wherein the one or more processing devices are further configured such that the one or more designated defects correspond to a number of data blocks of the mismatch in size between the track and the integer number of the one or more of the data containers to write to the track. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The data storage device of claim 7, wherein the one or more processing devices are further configured such that the one or more designated defects inserted to the mapping of the track are inserted at one or more positions in the track prior to the one or more of the data containers to write to the track. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The data storage device of claim 7, wherein the one or more processing devices are further configured such that the one or more designated defects inserted to the mapping of the track are inserted at one or more positions in the track after the one or more of the data containers to write to the track. ### Claim 10 (depends on 7) The data storage device of claim 7, wherein the one or more processing devices are further configured such that the one or more designated defects inserted to the mapping of the track are inserted at one or more positions in the track radially adjacent to one or more guardband blocks in a radially adjacent track. ### Claim 11 (depends on 5) The data storage device of claim 5, wherein the one or more processing devices are further configured such that inserting the one or more mapping indicators to the mapping of the recording medium comprises inserting mapping indicators for one or more radial guardband blocks for one or more positions radially adjacent to the one or more data containers to write to the track. ### Claim 12 A data storage device, comprising: one or more disks; an actuator mechanism configured to position one or more heads proximate to a recording medium of the one or more disks; and one or more processing devices, configured to: detect a criterion for inserting padding on a recording medium proximate to one or more data containers to be written to the recording medium, the data containers configured for assigning a plurality of logic blocks to the data containers, the logic blocks configured to store data to be written in an interleaved pattern across a plurality of sectors based on a distributed sector encoding scheme, wherein detecting the criterion comprises detecting a mismatch in size between at least a portion of a zone and an integer number of one or more of the data containers in which to write the at least a portion of the zone; and insert, in response to detecting the criterion, one or more mapping indicators to a mapping of the recording medium to indicate one or more padding blocks proximate to the one or more data containers on the recording medium, wherein the one or more processing devices are further configured such that: detecting the criterion comprises detecting an indication of radial sensitivity of the one or more data containers; and inserting the mapping indicators to the mapping of the recording medium comprises inserting mapping indicators for one or more radial guardband blocks to one or more positions radially adjacent to the one or more data containers. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The data storage device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processing devices are further configured to write data to the recording medium pursuant to the mapping of the recording medium. ### Claim 14 A method comprising: detecting, by one or more processing devices, a criterion for inserting padding on a recording medium proximate to one or more data containers to be written to the recording medium, the data containers configured for assigning a plurality of logic blocks to the data containers, the logic blocks configured to store data to be written in an interleaved pattern across a plurality of sectors based on a distributed sector encoding scheme, wherein detecting the criterion comprises detecting a mismatch in size between at least a portion of a zone and an integer number of one or more of the data containers in which to write the at least a portion of the zone; and inserting, by the one or more processing devices, in response to detecting the criterion, one or more mapping indicators to a mapping of the recording medium to indicate one or more padding blocks proximate to the one or more data containers on the recording medium, and wherein the inserting the one or more mapping indicators to the mapping of the recording medium comprises inserting one or more indications of one or more designated defects to the mapping. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14, wherein the zone comprises a host-managed data zone to be managed by a host, external to the data storage device. ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14, wherein detecting the criterion comprises detecting a mismatch in size between a track and an integer number of one or more of the data containers to write to the track, wherein inserting the one or more mapping indicators to the mapping of the recording medium comprises inserting one or more indications of one or more designated defects to a mapping of the track, in the mapping of the recording medium, and wherein the one or more designated defects correspond to a number of data blocks of the mismatch in size between the track and the integer number of the one or more of the data containers to write to the track. ### Claim 17 One or more processing devices comprising: means for detecting a criterion for inserting padding on a recording medium proximate to one or more data containers to be written to the recording medium, the data containers configured for assigning a plurality of logic blocks to the data containers, the logic blocks configured to store data to be written in an interleaved pattern across a plurality of sectors based on a distributed sector encoding scheme, wherein the means for detecting the criterion comprises means for detecting a mismatch in size between at least a portion of a zone and an integer number of one or more of the data containers in which to write the at least a portion of the zone; and means for inserting, in response to detecting the criterion, one or more mapping indicators to a mapping of the recording medium to indicate one or more padding blocks proximate to the one or more data containers on the recording medium, wherein the means for inserting the one or more mapping indicators to the mapping of the recording medium comprises means for inserting one or more indications of one or more designated defects to the mapping. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The one or more processing devices of claim 17, wherein the zone comprises a host-managed data zone to be managed by a host, external to the data storage device. ### Claim 19 One or more processing devices comprising: means for detecting a criterion for inserting padding on a recording medium proximate to one or more data containers to be written to the recording medium, the data containers configured for assigning a plurality of logic blocks to the data containers, the logic blocks configured to store data to be written in an interleaved pattern across a plurality of sectors based on a distributed sector encoding scheme, wherein the means for detecting the criterion comprises means for detecting a mismatch in size between at least a portion of a zone and an integer number of one or more of the data containers in which to write the at least a portion of the zone; and means for inserting, in response to detecting the criterion, one or more mapping indicators to a mapping of the recording medium to indicate one or more padding blocks proximate to the one or more data containers on the recording medium, wherein the means for detecting the criterion comprises means for detecting a mismatch in size between a track and an integer number of one or more of the data containers to write to the track, wherein the means for inserting the one or more mapping indicators to the mapping of the recording medium comprises means for inserting one or more indications of one or more designated defects to a mapping of the track, in the mapping of the recording medium, and wherein the one or more designated defects correspond to a number of data blocks of the mismatch in size between the track and the integer number of the one or more of the data containers to write to the track.