Method of controlling storage device

A method of controlling a storage device to record on a recording medium a plurality of recording blocks each having a unique address, said recording medium being divided into a normal recording area which is first accessed in operations of reading and writing data, and an alternative area having alternative blocks for storing data in place of defective blocks in said normal recording area, said method comprising:

• a data writing step including, sequentially recording information sets of a first group formed by combining each of a plurality of blocks of data to be written on said recording medium with a first pointer indicating the address of an alternative block which is common to said blocks in said normal recording area on said recording medium in response to a write command issued by a higher level system, detecting write errors in the recorded information sets, and then writing information sets formed with the combination of data corresponding to information sets which have caused write errors with a second pointer indicating the individual addresses of defective blocks in unused recording blocks within said alternative area starting from the alternative block indicated by the first pointer;
• and
• a data reading step including, reading a plurality of blocks of information sets from specified addresses in said normal recording area on said recording medium in response to a read command issued by said higher level system, analyzing the read data to detect defective blocks, and then, if a defective block is detected, accessing said alternative area on said recording medium in accordance with the contents of said first pointer included in information sets of normal blocks adjacent to each of said defective blocks.

A method of reading and writing data for a storage device using an uncorrectable recording medium with a plurality of recording blocks each having a unique address, said recording medium being divided into a normal recording area which is first accessed in operations of reading and writing data, and an alternative area having alternative blocks for storing data in place of defective blocks in said normal recording area, said method comprising:

• a data writing step including, sequentially recording information sets of a first group formed by combining each of a plurlity of blocks of data to be written on said recording medium with a first pointer indicating the address of an alternative block which is common to said blocks in said normal recording area on said recording medium in response to a write command issued by a higher system, detecting errors in the recorded information sets, and then writing information sets formed with the combination of data corresponding to information sets which have caused write errors with a second pointer indicating the individual addresses of defective blocks in unused recording blocks within said alternative area starting from the alternative block indicated by the first pointer;
• and
• a data reading step including, reading a plurality of blocks of information sets from specified addresses in said normal recording area on said recording medium in response to a read command issued by said higher level system, analyzing the read data to detect defective blocks, and then, if a defective block is detected, accessing said alternative area on said recording medium in accordance with the contents of said first pointer included in information sets of normal blocks adjacent to each of said defective blocks.

A method of controlling a storage device using a recording medium with a plurality of recording blocks each having a unique address, said recording medium being divided into a normal recording area which is first accessed in operations of reading and writing data, and an alternative area having alternative blocks for storing data in place of defective blocks in said normal recording area, said method comprising the steps of:

• storing a first pointer information indicating the address of an available alternative block in said alternative area;
• combining said first pointer information with each of a plurality of data blocks to be written concurrently on said recording medium thereby to produce information sets of a first group;
• writing sequentially said information sets of the first group into unused continguous recording blocks within said normal recording area on said recording medium;
• reading said information sets of the first group which have been written on said recording medium;
• checking said information sets of the first group read from said recording medium to detect defective recording blocks;
• combining, if a defective block has been detected, each data block corresponding to the defective block with a second pointer information indicating the individual address of said defective recording block thereby to produce information sets of the second group depending on the number of detected defective blocks;
• and
• writing sequentially said information sets of the second group into unused recording blocks within said alternative area starting from an alternative block corresponding to said first pointer information.

An apparatus for controlling a storage device using an uncorrectable recording medium with a plurality of recording blocks each having a unique address, said recording medium being divided into a normal recording area which is first accessed in a reading or writing operation for data, and an alternative area having alternative blocks for storing data in place of defective blocks in said normal recording area, comprising:

• first means for combining first pointer information indicating the address of an available alternative block in said alternative area with each of a plurality of data blocks to be written concurrently on said recording medium thereby to produce information sets of a first group;
• means for writing sequentially said information sets of the first group into unused contiguous recording blocks within said normal recording area on said recording medium;
• means for reading said information sets of the first group which have been written on said recording medium;
• means for checking said information sets of the first group read from said recording medium to detect defective recording blocks;
• second means for combining, if a defective block has been detected, each data block corresponding to the defective block with a second pointer information indicating the individual address of said defective recording block thereby to produce information sets of the second group depending on the number of detected defective blocks;
• and
• means for writing sequentially said information sets of the second group into unused recording blocks within said alternative area starting from an alternative block corresponding to said first pointer information.