Mass computer storage system having both solid state and rotating disk types of memory

A mass storage system adapted to operate as part of a computer system by connection through a system bus to a central processor that is programmed to address the entire memory space of the mass storage system over said bus by specifying at least one sector of data at a time in a disk drive format, comprising:

• a rotating disk drive memory partitioned into individually addressable sectors that individually store a given amount of data,
• a solid-state flash electrically erasable and programmable read only memory partitioned into individually addressable sectors that individually store said given amount of data,
• a controller connected to both of the disk drive and solid-state memories for communicating between said memories and the central processor over the system bus,
• means within the controller for accessing at least one of the data sectors within the disk drive when an address received in said disk drive format from the central processor over the system bus is within a first portion of the mass memory address space, and
• means within the controller for accessing at least one of the data sectors within the solid state memory when an address received in said disk drive format from the central processor over the system bus is within a second portion of the mass memory address space, said first and second portions of the mass memory address space being non-overlapping.

A method of operating a mass storage system having an address space, comprising:

• utilizing as the mass storage system both a rotating disk drive memory, a solid-state flash EEPROM array and a controller common to both the disk drive and the solid-state array, each of the disk drive and the solid-state array being partitioned into separately addressable sectors that individually store a given amount of data,
• operating the mass storage system as part of a computer system that also includes a central processor connected to communicate with the mass storage system,
• accessing at least one data sector within the disk drive when an address received by the controller in a disk drive format from the central processor is within a first portion of the mass storage system address space,
• accessing at least one data sector within the solid state memory when an address received by the controller in the disk drive format from the central processor is within a second portion of the mass storage system address space, said first and second address space portions being distinct and non-overlapping,
• translating the address from the central processor within the second address space portion into a physical address of a data sector of the solid state array, and
• generating from the central processor and sending to the controller an address in the disk drive format of at least one sector within the mass storage system address space without regard for whether the address is within the first or second portions of the mass storage system address space.