Mixed format disk drive
View Patent ↗A magnetic disk for a hard disk drive comprising a plurality of physical sector sizes is disclosed. The magnetic disk includes a first sector size area physically formatted according to a first physical sector size and a second sector size area physically formatted according to a second physical sector size different from the first sector size by a multiple of the first sector size wherein the second sector size can be presented externally as multiple sectors of said first sector size.
1. A magnetic disk for a hard disk drive comprising:
a first sector size area physically formatted according to a first physical sector size; and
a second sector size area physically formatted according to a second physical sector size different from said first sector size by a multiple of said first sector size wherein said second sector size area comprises externally presented multiple separate sectors of said first sector size.
2. The magnetic disk of claim 1 wherein said first physical sector size is 512 data Bytes.
3. The magnetic disk of claim 1 wherein said second physical sector size is 4096 data Bytes.
4. The magnetic disk of claim 1 wherein said second physical sector size is a multiple of eight with respect to said first physical sector size.
5. The magnetic disk of claim 1 wherein said first sector size area of said first physical sector size and said second sector size area of said second physical sector size are each physically contiguous on said magnetic disk.
6. The magnetic disk of claim 1 wherein said first sector size area of said first sector size and said second sector size area of said second sector size are each physically non-contiguous on said magnetic disk.
7. The magnetic disk of claim 6 wherein said first sector size area of said first sector size and said second sector size area of said second sector size are each physically non-contiguous but are logically contiguous on said magnetic disk.
8. A disk drive system comprising:
a housing;
a motor assembly coupled with said housing, said motor assembly for rotating a magnetic disk, said magnetic disk comprising:
a first sector size area physically formatted as a first physical sector size; and
a second sector size area physically formatted as a second sector size different from said first sector size by a multiple of said first sector size wherein said second sector size area comprises externally presented multiple separate sectors of said first size.
9. The disk drive of claim 8 wherein said first physical sector size is 512 data Bytes.
10. The disk drive of claim 8 wherein said second physical sector size is 4096 data Bytes.
11. The disk drive of claim 8 wherein said second physical sector size is a multiple of eight with respect to said first physical sector size.
12. The disk drive of claim 8 wherein said first sector size area of said first physical sector size and said second sector size area of said second physical sector size are each physically contiguous on said magnetic disk.
13. The disk drive of claim 8 wherein said first sector size area of said first physical sector size and said second sector size area of said second physical sector size are each physically non-contiguous on said magnetic disk.
14. The disk drive of claim 13 wherein said first sector size area of said first physical sector size and said second sector size area of said second physical sector size are each physically non-contiguous but are each logically contiguous on said magnetic disk.
15. A method for manufacturing a hard disk drive comprising:
receiving a magnetic disk;
formatting a first sector size area on said magnetic disk according to a first physical sector size;
formatting a second sector size area on said magnetic disk according to a second physical sector size; and
presenting each sector of a portion of said second sector size area externally as multiple separate sectors of said first sector size.
16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:
formatting said first sector size area according to a 512 byte physical sector size.
17. The method of claim 15 further comprising:
formatting said second sector size area according to a 4096 byte physical sector size.
18. The method of claim 15 further comprising:
formatting said first and second sector size areas such that said first sector size area of said first sector size and said second sector size area of said second sector size are each physically contiguous on said magnetic disk.
19. The method of claim 15 further comprising:
formatting said first and second sector size areas such that said first sector size area of said first sector size and said second sector size area of said second sector size are each physically non-contiguous but are logically contiguous on said magnetic disk.