Disk drive management
AssigneeLenovo (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
InventorsJeffrey R. Hobbet, Daryl Cromer, Donald R. Frame, Masahiko Nagai, Tin-Lup Wong
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Arrangements and methods for implementing a “spin-down policy” for HDD motors that is “smart”, flexible and admirably achieves an objective of ensuring prolonged motor life as just discussed. To this end, one specific implementation involves (among other things) the addition of a dedicated cache that acts as a buffer element of sorts for writing or obtaining data during a period when a motor may be spun down, especially (but not necessarily exclusively) in instances when a notebook needs to be running for a large portion of the day. Other analogous implementations are of course possible that would achieve similar ends.
Claims17
A method comprising the steps of:
- developing a protocol for disk drive motor spin-down;
- and
- spinning down and spinning up a disk drive motor in accordance with the developed protocol throughout a period of continuous operation;
- wherein the protocol takes into account historical disk drive or computer activity including frequency of input/output operations and duration of intervals between such operations.
An apparatus comprising:
- an arrangement which accesses a protocol for disk drive motor spin-down;
- and
- an arrangement which spins down and spins up a disk drive motor in accordance with the protocol throughout a period of continuous operation;
- wherein the protocol takes into account historical disk drive or computer activity including frequency of input/output operations and duration of intervals between such operations.
A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps, said method comprising the steps of:
- developing a protocol for disk drive motor spin-down;
- and
- spinning down and spinning up a disk drive motor in accordance with the developed protocol throughout a period of continuous operation;
- wherein the protocol takes into account historical disk drive or computer activity including frequency of input/output operations and duration of intervals between such operations.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.