Disc drive pattern zero verification test
AssigneeSeagate Technology LLC
InventorsTeckKhoon Lim, SoonWah Leow, ChewHoon Angie Neo
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In a pattern zero verification test, a data track of a disc drive is read. During the reading of the data track, on-the-fly counting of potential non-zero data bytes (potential count), sectors on which ECC correction has been performed (corrected sector count), and user data bytes on which ECC correction has been performed (corrected byte count) is performed. Next, various conditions of the potential, corrected sector, and corrected byte counts are checked to determine whether the data track includes only zero data bytes.
Claims33
A method for testing at least one data track to determine whether bytes of user data stored thereon represent the value zero (zero data bytes), the disc drive adapted to perform on-the-fly error correction code (ECC) correction of data bytes, the method comprising steps of:
- (a) reading a data track;
- (b) performing on-the-fly counting of potential non-zero data bytes (potential count);
- (c) performing on-the-fly counting of sectors on which ECC correction has been performed (corrected sector count);
- (d) performing on-the-fly counting of user data bytes on which ECC correction has been performed (corrected byte count);
- and
- (e) checking whether at least one of the following conditions exists to confirm that the data track includes only zero data bytes:
- (1) the potential count is zero;
- (2) the corrected sector count is equal to the potential count;
- and
- (3) the corrected sector count is one and the corrected byte count is equal to the potential count.
A disc drive storage system comprising:
- a magnetic disc having a plurality of data tracks with data bytes stored therein;
- a read/write head adapted for reading data from and writing data to the data tracks;
- an system controller including an error counter, an ECC sector counter, and an ECC byte counter, the system controller programmed to perform steps of:
- (a) reading a data track;
- (b) performing on-the-fly counting of potential non-zero data bytes (potential count) using the error correction counter;
- (c) performing on-the-fly counting of sectors on which ECC correction has been performed (corrected sector count) using the ECC sector counter;
- (d) performing on-the-fly counting of user data bytes on which ECC correction has been performed (corrected byte count) using the ECC byte counter;
- and
- (e) checking whether at least one of the following conditions, which, if true confirms that the data track includes only zero data bytes:
- (1) the potential count is zero;
- (2) the corrected sector count is equal to the potential count;
- and
- (3) the corrected sector count is one and the corrected byte count is equal to the potential count.
A storage system comprising:
- a disc containing a plurality of data tracks with data bytes stored thereon;
- and
- a testing means for testing for the existence of non-zero data bytes in one of the data tracks during error correction code (ECC) compensation of the data track.
A method of testing whether data stored in a data track represent a value of zero (zero data bytes), the method comprising:
- reading a portion of a data track;
- counting potential non-zero data bytes (potential count);
- counting sectors on which error correction code (ECC) correction has been performed (corrective sector count);
- and
- checking whether at least one of the following conditions exist:
- the potential count is zero;
- and
- the corrected sector count is equal to the potential count.
A method of testing whether data stored in a data track represent a value of zero (zero data bytes), the method comprising:
- reading a portion of a data track;
- counting potential non-zero data bytes (potential count);
- counting data bytes on which error correction code (ECC) correction has been performed (corrected byte count);
- and
- checking whether at least one of the following conditions exists:
- the potential count is zero;
- and
- the corrected byte count is equal to the potential count.
A method of testing whether data stored in a data track represent a value of zero (zero data bytes), the method comprising:
- performing error correction code (ECC) correction of data contained in a data track;
- and
- performing a pattern zero verification test of the data contained in the data track based upon results of the ECC correction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.