Method and system for mitigating adjacent track erasure in hard disk drives

A computer program product for mitigating adjacent track erasure in hard disks, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code configured to:
• determine input/output (I/O) characteristics for a plurality of blocks on a hard disk, further configured to:
• determine secure deletion requirements for the plurality of blocks on the hard disk, the secure deletion requirements comprising overwriting rates for the plurality of blocks;
• assign the plurality of blocks to a plurality of categories of I/O characteristics, further configured to:
• assign the plurality of blocks to a plurality of categories associated with the overwriting rates;
• and
• cluster the content of the blocks assigned to the same category in one or more continuous tracks on the hard disk, further configured to:
• cluster the content of the blocks assigned to the same overwriting rate category in the one or more continuous tracks on the hard disk.

A system, comprising:

• at least one hard disk comprising a plurality of tracks, each track comprising a plurality of blocks;
• a processor;
• and a computer readable storage medium operationally coupled to the processor, the computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith to be executed by the processor, the computer readable program code configured to:
• determine input/output (I/O) characteristics for a plurality of blocks on a hard disk, further configured to:
• determine secure deletion requirements for the plurality of blocks on the hard disk, the secure deletion requirements comprising overwriting rates for the plurality of blocks;
• assign the plurality of blocks to a plurality of categories of I/O characteristics, further configured to:
• assign the plurality of blocks to a plurality of categories associated with the overwriting rates;
• and
• cluster content of the blocks assigned to the same category in one or more continuous tracks on the hard disk, further configured to:
• cluster the content of the blocks assigned to the same overwriting rate category in the one or more continuous tracks on the hard disk.

A method implemented by a computing device for mitigating adjacent track erasures in hard disks, the computing device operationally coupled to a processor, the method comprising:

• determining input/output (I/O) characteristics for a plurality of blocks on a hard disk by the processor comprises:
• determining expected access frequencies for a given time period for the plurality of blocks on the hard disk by the processor;
• assigning the plurality of blocks to a plurality of categories of I/O characteristics by the processor, comprising:
• assigning the plurality of blocks to a plurality of categories of expected access frequencies for the given time period by the processor;
• and
• clustering content of the blocks assigned to the same category in one or more continuous tracks on the hard disk by the processor, comprising:
• clustering the content of the blocks assigned to the same category of expected access frequency in the one or more continuous tracks on the hard disk by the processor.

A method implemented by a computing device for mitigating adjacent track erasures in hard disks, the computing device operationally coupled to a processor, the method comprising:

• determining input/output (I/O) characteristics for a plurality of blocks on a hard disk by the processor comprising:
• maintaining a table comprising a number of accesses and remanence states of the plurality of blocks on the hard disk by the processor;
• assigning the plurality of blocks to a plurality of categories of I/O characteristics by the processor, comprising:
• defining a space by the processor representing the plurality of blocks with attribute dimensions comprising the number of accesses, time, and the remanence states, placing objects representing the plurality of blocks within the space by the processor, and applying a K-means clustering algorithm on the objects by the processor using a plurality of categories of the attribute dimensions as classes;
• and
• clustering content of the blocks assigned to the same category in one or more continuous tracks on the hard disk by the processor, comprising:
• storing the content of the plurality of blocks in each cluster in the space in the one or more continuous tracks on the hard disk by the processor.

A computer program product for mitigating adjacent track erasure in hard disks, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code configured to;
• determine input/output (I/O) characteristics for a plurality of blocks on a hard disk, further configured to:
• determine expected access frequencies for a given time period for the plurality of blocks on the hard disk;
• assign the plurality of blocks to a plurality of categories of I/O characteristics, further configured to:
• assign the plurality of blocks to a plurality of categories of expected access frequencies for the given time period;
• and
• cluster content of the blocks assigned to the same category in one or more continuous tracks on the hard disk, further configured to:
• cluster the content of the blocks assigned to the same category of expected access frequency in the one or more continuous tracks on the hard disk.

A computer program product for mitigating adjacent track erasure in hard disks, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code configured to;
• determine input/output (I/O) characteristics for a plurality of blocks on a hard disk, further configured to:
• maintain a table comprising a number of accesses and remanence states of the plurality of blocks on the hard disk;
• assign the plurality of blocks to a plurality of categories of I/O characteristics, is configured to:
• define a space representing the plurality of blocks with attribute dimensions
• comprising the number of accesses, time, and the remanence states,
• place objects representing the plurality of blocks within the space, and
• apply a K-means clustering algorithm on the objects using a plurality of categories of the attribute dimensions as classes;
• and
• cluster content of the blocks assigned to the same category in one or more continuous tracks on the hard disk, further configured to:
• store the content of the plurality of blocks in each cluster in the space in the one or more continuous tracks on the hard disk.

A system, comprising:

• at least one hard disk comprising
• a plurality of tracks, each track comprising a plurality of blocks;
• a processor;
• and
• a computer readable storage medium operationally coupled to the processor, the computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith to be executed by the processor, the computer readable program code configured to:
• determine input/output (I/O) characteristics for a plurality of blocks on a hard disk, further configured to:
• determine expected access frequencies for a given time period for the plurality of blocks on the hard disk;
• assign the plurality of blocks to a plurality of categories of I/O characteristics, further configured to:
• assign the plurality of blocks to a plurality of categories of expected access frequencies for the given time period;
• and
• cluster content of the blocks assigned to the same category in one or more continuous tracks on the hard disk, further configured to:
• cluster the content of the blocks assigned to the same category of expected access frequency in the one or more continuous tracks on the hard disk.

A system, comprising:

• at least one hard disk comprising a plurality of tracks, each track comprising a plurality of blocks;
• a processor;
• and
• a computer readable storage medium operationally coupled to the processor, the computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith to be executed by the processor, the computer readable program code configured to:
• determine input/output (I/O) characteristics for a plurality of blocks on the a hard disk, further configured to:
• maintain a table comprising a number of accesses and remanence states of the plurality of blocks on the hard disk;
• assign the plurality of blocks to a plurality of categories of I/O characteristics, further configured to:
• define a space representing the plurality of blocks with attribute dimensions comprising the number of accesses, time, and the remanence states,
• place objects representing the plurality of blocks within the space, and
• apply a K-means clustering algorithm on the objects using a plurality of categories of the attribute dimensions as classes;
• and
• cluster content of the blocks assigned to the same category in one or more continuous tracks on the hard disk, further configured to:
• store the content of the plurality of blocks in each cluster in the space in the one or more continuous tracks on the hard disk.

A computer implemented method for mitigating adjacent track erasures in hard disks, the computer operationally coupled to a processor, the method comprising:

• determining input/output (I/O) characteristics for a plurality of blocks on the hard disk by the processor, the I/O characteristics comprising secure deletion requirements, the secure deletion requirements comprising overwriting rates for the plurality of blocks, wherein the I/O characteristics further comprises expected access frequencies for a given time period for the plurality of blocks on the hard disk, further comprising:
• determining the expected access frequencies for the given time period for the plurality of blocks on the hard disk by the processor;
• assigning the plurality of blocks to a plurality of categories associated with the overwriting rates by the processor, further comprising:
• assigning the plurality of blocks to a plurality of categories of expected access frequencies for the given time period by the processor;
• and
• clustering content of the blocks assigned to the same overwriting rate category in one or more continuous tracks on the hard disk by the processor, further comprising:
• clustering the content of the blocks assigned to the same category of expected access frequency in the one or more continuous tracks on the hard disk by the processor.

A computer implemented method for mitigating adjacent track erasures in hard disks, the computer operationally coupled to a processor, the method comprising:

• determining input/output (I/O) characteristics for a plurality of blocks on the hard disk by the processor, the I/O characteristics comprising secure deletion requirements, the secure deletion requirements comprising overwriting rates for the plurality of blocks, further comprising:
• maintaining a table comprising a number of accesses and remanence states of the plurality of blocks on the hard disk by the processor;
• assigning the plurality of blocks to plurality of categories associated with the overwriting rates by the processor further comprising:
• defining a space by the processor representing the plurality of blocks with attribute dimensions comprising the number of accesses, time, and the remanence states, and placing objects representing the plurality of blocks within the space by the processor, and applying a K-means clustering algorithm on the objects by the processor using a plurality of categories of the attribute dimensions as classes;
• and clustering content of the blocks assigned to the same overwriting rate category in one or more continuous tracks on the hard disk by the processor, further comprising:
• storing the content of the plurality of blocks in each cluster in the space in the one or more continuous tracks on the hard disk by the processor.