Dual work queue disk drive controller
Herein described is at least a method and system for improving the performance of a disk drive. A cache work queue and a disk work queue operate together as a dual work queue to facilitate efficient processing of one or more read/write operations performed by the disk drive. In a representative embodiment, the disk drive controller comprises a host interface, a cache buffer, and a disk drive media interface. The disk drive controller comprises the necessary circuitry to execute one or more host commands provided by a host computer. Further, the disk drive controller may facilitate the generation of the cache work queue and the disk work queue. The disk drive controller executes one or more host commands that are received through the host interface such that the cache work queue and disk work queue are employed when a read or write operation is performed.
1. A method of improving the processing performance of a disk drive comprising:
generating a first work queue for providing a first ordered sequence of work entries used for processing data between a cache buffer of said disk drive and a read/write disk drive actuator mechanism of said disk drive;
using said first work queue to track and process a read or write operation, said first work queue utilizing data stored in said cache buffer of said disk drive;
generating a second work queue for providing a second ordered sequence of work entries for physically reading/writing data from/onto a disk drive media of said disk drive; and
using said second work queue to process said read or write operation between a disk drive media interface of said disk drive and said disk drive media of said disk drive, said disk drive media interface comprising said read/write mechanical actuator.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein said first work queue is used to process data transferred between said cache buffer and said disk drive media interface.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein one or more entries of said first work queue and/or one or more entries of said second work queue are stored in said cache buffer.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein said disk drive comprises a magnetic hard disk drive.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein each of said first work queue and said second work queue comprises a doubly linked list.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein said first work queue and said second work queue comprise one or more entries, each of said one or more entries comprising one or more fields, wherein a field of said one or more fields specifies a starting logical block address at which data is written into or read from said disk drive.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein each entry of said first ordered sequence and said second ordered sequence of work entries comprises one or more fields, wherein a field of said one or more fields provides a read or write indicator that determines whether a read or write operation is to be performed on said disk drive.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein each entry of said first ordered sequence and said second ordered sequence of work entries comprises one or more fields, wherein a field of said one or more fields specifies the amount of data to be written into or read from said disk drive.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein each entry of said first ordered sequence and said second ordered sequence of work entries comprises one or more fields, wherein a field of said one or more fields comprises data that specifies the type of work to be performed on said disk drive.
10. The method of claim 9 wherein said type of work comprises a) host to cache, b) host command, c) cache-command, d) host to disk, or e) cache to disk.
11. The method of claim 1 wherein said cache buffer is located within a disk drive controller.
12. A disk drive comprising:
a host interface for receiving host commands;
a disk drive media interface for reading or writing data onto a disk drive media of said disk drive, said disk drive media interface comprising a mechanical read/write actuator mechanism;
a disk drive media; and
a memory for storing data used in said read or write operation, said memory used for storing entries of a first work queue and a second work queue, said first work queue for providing a first ordered sequence of work entries used for processing data between said memory and said mechanical read/write actuator mechanism, said second work queue for providing a second ordered sequence of work entries for physically reading/writing data from/onto said disk drive media.
13. The disk drive of claim 12 wherein said second work queue provides an organized list of said entries for processing data transfers between said disk drive media interface and said disk drive media.
14. The disk drive of claim 12 wherein said disk drive media comprises a surface that rotates around its central axis, said surface configured into one or more concentric tracks, wherein each of said concentric tracks comprises one or more data sectors.
15. The disk drive of claim 12 wherein said host interface communicates to a host computer by way of a data bus.
16. The disk drive of claim 12 wherein said disk drive media interface performs a translation from a logical block address to physical location on said disk drive media.
17. The disk drive of claim 12 wherein said first work queue and said second work queue comprise said entries, each of said entries comprising one or more fields, wherein a field of said one or more fields specifies a starting logical block address at which data is written into or read from said disk drive.
18. The disk drive of claim 12 wherein said first work queue and said second work queue comprise said entries, each of said entries comprising one or more fields, wherein a field of said one or more fields provides a read or write indicator that determines whether a read or write operation is to be performed on said disk drive.
19. The disk drive of claim 12 wherein said first work queue and said second work queue comprise said entries, each of said entries comprising one or more fields, wherein a field of said one or more fields specifies the amount of data to be written into or read from said disk drive.
20. The disk drive of claim 12 wherein said first work queue and said second work queue comprise said entries, each of said entries comprising one or more fields, wherein a field of said one or more fields comprises data that specifies the type of work to be performed on said disk drive.
21. The disk drive of claim 12 wherein a field of an entry of said entries in said second work queue comprises a value that specifies whether the work associated with said second work queue relates to translating a logical block address (LBA) to a cylinder/head/sector location on said disk drive media.