Granted Patent B1

US 7,599,139 · App. 11/767,315 · Granted Oct 6, 2009

Abstract

Claims (68)

1. A disk drive comprising:

a disk comprising a plurality of tracks;

a head actuated over the disk; and

control circuitry operable to:

monitor a write frequency of write data received from a host;

when the write frequency falls below a threshold, configure the disk drive to operate in a low frequency access mode when accessing the disk, wherein a parameter of the disk drive is configured to decrease a throughput of the disk drive; and

when the write frequency rises above a threshold, configure the disk drive to operate in a high frequency access mode when accessing the disk, wherein the parameter of the disk drive is configured to increase the throughput of the disk drive.

2. The disk drive as recited in claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is further operable to:

define a plurality of zones on the disk, including a first zone and a second zone;

monitor a write frequency of write data received from the host for the first and second zones;

when the write frequency for the first zone falls below a threshold, configure the disk drive to operate in the low frequency access mode when accessing the first zone;

when the write frequency for the first zone rises above a threshold, configure the disk drive to operate in the high frequency access mode when accessing the first zone;

when the write frequency for the second zone falls below a threshold, configure the disk drive to operate in the low frequency access mode when accessing the second zone; and

when the write frequency for the second zone rises above a threshold, configure the disk drive to operate in the high frequency access mode when accessing the second zone.

3. The disk drive as recited in claim 1 , wherein the write frequency falls below the threshold due to the disk drive being disconnected from the host.

4. The disk drive as recited in claim 1 , wherein the parameter comprises a servo control parameter for actuating the head over the disk.

5. The disk drive as recited in claim 4 , wherein the parameter comprises a seek trajectory.

6. The disk drive as recited in claim 4 , wherein the parameter comprises a repeatable runout compensation.

7. The disk drive as recited in claim 4 , wherein the parameter comprises a degree of disk revolution for the head to settle on a target track after seeking the head to the target track.

8. The disk drive as recited in claim 1 , wherein the parameter comprises a write current setting.

9. The disk drive as recited in claim 8 , wherein when in the low frequency access mode, the control circuitry is further operable to decrease the write current setting and perform write operations by writing data to an area of the disk at least twice.

10. The disk drive as recited in claim 1 , wherein each track comprises a plurality of data sectors, and the parameter comprises a track level redundancy generated in response to the data sectors stored in a track.

11. The disk drive as recited in claim 2 , wherein each track comprises a plurality of data sectors, and the parameter comprises a track level redundancy generated in response to the data sectors stored in a track.

12. The disk drive as recited in claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry dynamically assigns memory for storing the track level redundancy to the zones.

13. The disk drive as recited in claim 2 , wherein the control circuitry is further operable to:

maintain a refresh monitor for each zone; and

refresh data recorded in a zone in response to the corresponding refresh monitor.

14. The disk drive as recited in claim 13 , wherein the control circuitry is further operable to:

refresh data recorded in a zone at a refresh interval; and

when in the low frequency access mode, increase the refresh interval.

15. A disk drive comprising:

a disk comprising a plurality of tracks;

a head actuated over the disk; and

control circuitry operable to:

define a plurality of zones on the disk, including a first zone and a second zone;

configure the disk drive to operate in a high frequency access mode when accessing the first zone, wherein the disk drive is configured according to a parameter so as to increase the performance of the disk drive;

configure the disk drive to operate in a low frequency access mode when accessing the second zone, wherein the disk drive is configured according to the parameter so as to increase the reliability of the disk drive;

monitor a write frequency of write data received from a host for the first zone; and

when the write frequency for the first zone falls below a threshold, copy data stored in the first zone to the second zone.

16. The disk drive as recited in claim 15 , wherein the control circuitry is further operable to:

monitor a write frequency of write data received from a host for the second zone; and

when the write frequency for the second zone rises above a threshold, copy data stored in the second zone to the first zone.

17. The disk drive as recited in claim 15 , wherein the parameter comprises a servo control parameter for actuating the head over the disk.

18. The disk drive as recited in claim 17 , wherein the parameter comprises a servo sector format.

19. The disk drive as recited in claim 18 , wherein the parameter comprises a repeatable runout compensation.

20. The disk drive as recited in claim 15 , wherein the parameter comprises an error correction setting.

21. The disk drive as recited in claim 20 , wherein each track comprises a plurality of data sectors, and the parameter comprises a sector level redundancy generated in response to user data stored in a data sector.

22. The disk drive as recited in claim 20 , wherein each track comprises a plurality of data sectors, and the parameter comprises a track level redundancy generated in response to the data sectors stored in a track.

23. The disk drive as recited in claim 15 , wherein the parameter comprises a radial tracks per inch recording density.

24. The disk drive as recited in claim 15 , wherein the parameter comprises a linear bits per inch recording density.

25. The disk drive as recited in claim 15 , wherein the control circuitry is further operable to:

maintain a refresh monitor for each zone; and

refresh data recorded in a zone in response to the corresponding refresh monitor.

26. The disk drive as recited in claim 25 , wherein the control circuitry is further operable to refresh data recorded in a zone at a refresh interval, wherein the refresh interval for the first zone is less than the refresh interval for the second zone.

27. A disk drive comprising:

a disk comprising a plurality of tracks;

a head actuated over the disk;

a means for monitoring a write frequency of write data received from a host;

when the write frequency falls below a threshold, a means for configuring the disk drive to operate in a low frequency access mode when accessing the disk, wherein a parameter of the disk drive is configured to decrease a throughput of the disk drive; and

when the write frequency rises above a threshold, a means for configuring the disk drive to operate in a high frequency access mode when accessing the disk, wherein the parameter of the disk drive is configured to increase the throughput of the disk drive.

28. A disk drive as comprising:

a disk comprising a plurality of tracks;

a head actuated over the disk; and

a means for defining a plurality of zones on the disk, including a first zone and a second zone;

a means for configuring the disk drive to operate in a high frequency access mode when accessing the first zone, wherein the disk drive is configured according to a parameter so as to increase the performance of the disk drive;

a means for configuring the disk drive to operate in a low frequency access mode when accessing the second zone, wherein the disk drive is configured according to the parameter so as to increase the reliability of the disk drive;

a means for monitoring a write frequency of write data received from a host for the first zone; and

when the write frequency for the first zone falls below a threshold, a means for copying data stored in the first zone to the second zone.

Assignments (8)