Hybrid drive selectively spinning up disk when powered on
AssigneeWestern Digital Technologies, Inc.
InventorVirgil V. Wilkins
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A hybrid drive is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk, and a non-volatile semiconductor memory (NVSM). When booting the hybrid drive in a first boot mode, the disk remains spun down, and when booting in a second boot mode, the disk is spun up. In one embodiment the hybrid drive receives a host command that configures the boot mode, and in another embodiment the hybrid drive determines the boot mode based on a state of the NVSM, such as an amount of free space or life remaining of the NVSM.
Claims6
A hybrid drive comprising:
- a disk;
- a head actuated over the disk;
- a non-volatile semiconductor memory (NVSM);
- and
- control circuitry operable to boot the hybrid drive by:
- transferring boot data from the NVSM to a host;
- and
- after transferring at least seventy percent of the boot data to the host, begin spinning up the disk prior to receiving an access command from the host to access the disk.
A method of operating a hybrid drive comprising a head actuated over a disk, and a non-volatile semiconductor memory (NVSM), the method comprising:
- transferring boot data from the NVSM to a host;
- and
- after transferring at least seventy percent of the boot data to the host, begin spinning up the disk prior to receiving an access command from the host to access the disk.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.