Data storage using virtual addressing

An apparatus comprising:

• a data storage medium;
• and
• a controller adapted to convert a logical block address (LBA) in a command received from a host into a virtual address (VA) based on a reserved block of the data storage medium and to access the data storage medium using the VA, wherein the reserved block is a valid block that is ready to have data written thereto;
• and
• a memory which stores a first queue to manage one or more pieces of reserved block information of the data storage medium, a second queue to manage at least one piece of mapping information about mapping between the LBA and the VA, and a third queue to manage one or more pieces of invalid block information of the data storage medium, wherein the controller is further adapted to sort the one or more pieces of invalid block information and transmit the sorted block information to the first queue.

A method, comprising:

• receiving a host command from a host that includes a data write command;
• converting a logical block address (LBA) included in the host command into a virtual address (VA) to correspond to reserved block information of the data storage medium;
• selecting reserved block information among a plurality of pieces of reserved block information managed by a first queue of a controller;
• selecting a reserved block including a VA in which to write a data instruction of the write command, wherein the VA corresponds to a cylinder head sector (CHS) of the reserved block of the data storage medium;
• and
• moving a head of a head disk assembly to the reserved block to correspond to the selected reserved block information to write data to the reserved block, wherein the reserved block information in the first queue includes a CHS and VA of the reserved block.

An apparatus comprising:

• a data storage medium;
• a controller adapted to receive host commands including logical block addresses (LBAs) from a host and to control an interface between the host and the medium based on the host commands, the controller comprising a first queue to select a plurality of reserved blocks in the data storage medium that include reserved block information including virtual addresses (VAs) corresponding to cylinder head sectors (CHSs) of the reserved blocks, a memory to store active block information to correspond to reserved block information of the reserved blocks, a second queue to store mapping information of the VAs that correspond to the LBAs of the host commands, and a third queue to recycle invalid reserved block information to the first queue;
• and
• a head unit to be moved by the controller to a location of the selected reserved blocks selected from the first queue and to write data from the host command into the reserved blocks.