Disk drive flushing write data in response to computed flush time

1. A disk drive comprising:

a disk;

a head actuated over the disk;

a volatile semiconductor memory (VSM);

a command queue; and

control circuitry operable to:

receive a plurality of write commands from a host;

store the write commands in the command queue;

store write data for the write commands in the VSM;

compute a flush time needed to flush the write data from the VSM to the disk; and

flush at least part of the write data from the VSM to a non-volatile memory (NVM) in response to the flush time.

2. The disk drive as recited in claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is operable to flush the write data from the VSM to the NVM when the flush time exceeds a threshold.

3. The disk drive as recited in claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is operable to compute the flush time when a new write command is received from the host.

4. The disk drive as recited in claim 1 , wherein the NVM comprises the disk.

5. The disk drive as recited in claim 1 , wherein the NVM comprises a non-volatile semiconductor memory (NVSM).

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

compute a rough flush time needed to flush the write data from the VSM to the disk;

when the rough flush time exceeds a threshold, compute a fine flush time needed to flush the write data from the VSM to the disk; and

flush the write data from the VSM to the NVM in response to the fine flush time.

7. The disk drive as recited in claim 6 , wherein the rough flush time provides a rough estimate of an actual flush time needed to flush the write data from the VSM to the disk.

8. The disk drive as recited in claim 5 , wherein the control circuitry is further operable to:

receive a command from the host requiring the write data to be flushed from the VSM to the NVM; and

when the flush time exceeds the threshold, flush a first part of the write data from the VSM to the NVSM and flush a second part of the write data to the disk.

9. A method of operating a disk drive comprising a head actuated over a disk, a volatile semiconductor memory (VSM), and a command queue, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of write commands from a host;

storing the write commands in the command queue;

storing write data for the write commands in the VSM;

computing a flush time needed to flush the write data from the VSM to the disk; and

flushing at least part of the write data from the VSM to a non-volatile memory (NVM) in response to the flush time.

10. The method as recited in claim 9 , wherein the write data is flushed from the VSM to the NVM when the flush time exceeds a threshold.

11. The method as recited in claim 9 , wherein the flush time is computed when a new write command is received from the host.

12. The method as recited in claim 9 , wherein the NVM comprises the disk.

13. The method as recited in claim 9 , wherein the NVM comprises a non-volatile semiconductor memory (NVSM).

14. The method as recited in claim 9 , further comprising:

computing a rough flush time needed to flush the write data from the VSM to the disk;

when the rough flush time exceeds a threshold, computing a fine flush time needed to flush the write data from the VSM to the disk; and

flushing the write data from the VSM to the NVM in response to the fine flush time.

15. The method as recited in claim 14 , wherein the rough flush time provides a rough estimate of an actual flush time needed to flush the write data from the VSM to the disk.

16. The method as recited in claim 13 , further comprising:

receiving a command from the host requiring the write data to be flushed from the VSM to the NVM; and

when the flush time exceeds the threshold, flushing a first part of the write data from the VSM to the NVSM and flushing a second part of the write data to the disk.