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AssigneeSeagate Technology LLC
InventorsTimothy R. Feldman, Jonathan W. Haines, William B. Raspotnik, Craig W. Miller, Edwin Scott Olds
Estimating the term…
Method and apparatus for using block level quality of service (QOS) data in a data storage device. A memory space is provided with a plurality of physical data storage blocks, such as data sectors on a magnetic disc. The QOS data identify at least one QOS characteristic for each of the available blocks. Transfers of user data between the blocks and a host device are preferably carried out in relation to the QOS data. In some preferred embodiments, the QOS data identifies a certification state for each of the blocks. In this way, the device is manufactured with less than all of the blocks having been successfully certified, and the remaining blocks are certified by the device during field use. In other preferred embodiments, the QOS data include a virus scan status, an access history, a write status, or an overlapped track indication for each said block.
A method comprising steps of:
An apparatus comprising a memory space comprising a plurality of physical data storage blocks available to store user data for a host device, the memory space further storing quality of service (QOS) data associated with each of said data storage blocks to provide an indication of a reliability of each said data storage block, wherein a plurality of data storage blocks, less than all of said data storage blocks, are subjected to certification testing during manufacturing prior to shipment to an end user so that, upon said shipment, the device comprises a first subset of tested data storage blocks having a certification state indication in the QOS data, a second subset of tested data storage blocks excluded from available memory space due to a defective state, and a subset of untested data storage blocks having a non-certified state indication in the QOS data, wherein the apparatus is adapted to perform subsequent certification of said untested data storage blocks in relation to a rate at which said tested data storage blocks are allocated for storage of user data.
A method comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.