Disk drive employing a disk with a pristine area for storing encrypted data accessible only by trusted devices or clients to facilitate secure network communications

A method of processing a request received by a disk drive from a host computer to access encrypted data stored in a pristine area of a disk, wherein the disk further comprises embedded servo sectors comprising servo bursts, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) using a control system internal to the disk drive to receive the request from the host computer;
• (b) using the control system internal to the disk drive to authenticate the request to access the pristine area and to enable access to the pristine area if the request is authenticated;
• (c) using the control system internal to the disk drive to read the encrypted data stored in the pristine area;
• (d) using the control system internal to the disk drive to decrypt the encrypted data using a secret drive key within the disk drive to generate decrypted data;
• (e) using the control system internal to the disk drive to servo a head over the disk in response to the embedded servo sectors;
• and
• (f) using the control system internal to the disk drive to enable servoing in the pristine area if the request is authenticated,
• wherein:
• the servo bursts are written to the disk in encrypted form;
• and
• the step of authenticating the request to access the pristine area comprises the step of decrypting the servo bursts.

A method of processing a request received by a disk drive from a host computer to access data stored on a disk, the disk comprising a public area for storing plaintext data and a pristine area for storing encrypted data, the disk further comprises embedded servo sectors comprising servo bursts, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) using a control system internal to the disk drive to receive the request from the host computer;
• (b) using the control system internal to the disk drive to decrypt the encrypted data stored in the pristine area of the disk using a secret drive key within the disk drive to generate decrypted data;
• (c) using the control system internal to the disk drive to process the decrypted data to authenticate the request received from the host computer before allowing access to the disk;
• (d) using the control system internal to the disk drive to servo a head over the disk in response to the embedded servo sectors;
• and
• (e) using the control system internal to the disk drive to enable servoing in the pristine area if the request is authenticated,
• wherein:
• the servo bursts are written to the disk in encrypted form;
• and
• the step of authenticating the request to access the pristine area comprises the step of decrypting the servo bursts.

A disk drive comprising a disk for storing data including embedded servo sectors comprising servo bursts, and a head for reading data from the disk, the improvement comprising:

• a control system for interfacing with a host computer to facilitate read and write commands to write data to and read data from the disk, the control system comprising:
• authentication circuitry for authenticating a request received from the host computer to access the disk;
• a secret drive key;
• decryption circuitry, responsive to the secret drive key, for decrypting the encrypted data stored on the disk to generate decrypted data;
• and
• a servo control system responsive to the embedded servo sectors;
• wherein:
• the servo bursts are written to the disk in encrypted form;
• and
• the authentication circuitry enables the servo control system to decrypt the servo bursts.