Information processing device and program

Abstract

This invention provides an information processing device and program capable of modifying information in a file system format. [Solution] An information processing device 10 connected to a formatted storage device 20, which obtains information on the file system format of at least one partition set on the storage device 20 in multiple different ways, and performs a correction process to correct the file system format information if the obtained file system format information is different from the other information.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and a program.

Background Art

[0002] Generally, one or more partitions are formed in a storage device connected to an information processing apparatus, and the information processing apparatus stores data in each of the partitions. Further, information that is referenced when the information processing apparatus is started up and relates to the formed partitions is recorded outside the partitions. Examples of such information on partitions include what is called a master boot record (MBR).

[0003] Such a master boot record or the like includes information indicating what type of file system is formed in each partition (in what file system the partition is formatted). When starting up, the information processing apparatus reads the master boot record, refers to information related to the file system format of each partition, and executes access processing corresponding to the file system format.

[0004] Patent Document 1 discloses an example in which partition type information in a master boot record is referred to for use in updating host attribute information.

Prior Art Literature

Patent Literature

[0005]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problem to be Solved by the Invention

[0006] However, some software modules used to format partitions may not correctly configure the master boot record information. If the master boot record information is incorrect, there is a concern that it may cause problems accessing storage devices, for example, depending on the operating system of the information processing device.

[0007] This invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and one of its objectives is to provide an information processing device and program capable of modifying information in a file system format. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] One aspect of the present invention, which solves the problems of the above-mentioned conventional example, is an information processing device connected to a formatted storage device, comprising: format information acquisition means for acquiring information on the file system format of at least one partition set on the storage device in a plurality of different ways; and correction processing means for performing a correction process to correct the file system format information when the file system format information acquired by the format information acquisition means in a plurality of different ways is different from the information.

[0009] According to this aspect of the present invention, if there is an abnormality in the information of the partition's file system format, that information can be corrected.

[0010] Furthermore, one method by which the format information acquisition means acquires information on the file system format of the partition may be to acquire information on the partition identifier contained in information outside the partition.

[0011] In this example, the correction would be made by referencing information such as the master boot record outside of the partition.

[0012] Furthermore, the modification processing means may modify the file system format information by rewriting the partition identifier information. In this example, the file system format information of the partition will be modified.

[0013] Furthermore, one of the methods by which the format information acquisition means acquires information on the file system format of the partition may be a method based on information within the corresponding partition.

[0014] This allows for the correction of information if there are abnormalities in the partition's file system format information by referencing information outside the partition and information inside the partition.

[0015] Furthermore, the correction processing means may be configured to perform the correction process only when the partition table included in the boot block is in the format of a master boot record. In this example, it becomes possible to ensure that the correction is performed reliably.

[0016] Furthermore, at any of the following timings, such as when data is written to the storage device, when data is read from the storage device, or when the storage device is recognized, the format information acquisition means may acquire information on the file system format of at least one partition set on the storage device in multiple different ways, and the modification processing means may perform a modification process to modify the file system format information if the file system format information acquired in the multiple different ways is different from that information.

[0017] In this example, the file system format information is modified when accessing the partition.

[0018] Further, another aspect of the present invention is a program that causes an information processing apparatus connected to a formatted storage device to function as: format information acquiring means for acquiring, for at least one partition set on the storage device, file system format information of said partition by a plurality of different methods; and correction processing means for executing correction processing to correct the file system format information when the pieces of file system format information acquired by said format information acquiring means through the plurality of different methods are different from each other. [Effects of the Invention]

[0019] According to the present invention, file system format information can be corrected. [Brief Description of the Drawings]

[0020] [Figure 1] It is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] It is an explanatory diagram showing an example of data recorded in a storage device connected to the information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] It is a functional block diagram showing an example of the information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] It is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an information table used by the information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 5] It is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Mode for Carrying Out the Invention]

[0021] Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. An information processing apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention is a computer-controlled device such as a personal computer (PC) or a smartphone. As exemplified in FIG. 1, the information processing apparatus 10 is configured to include a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, an operation unit 13, a display unit 14, an input / output unit 15, and a communication unit 16. The information processing apparatus 10 is also connected to a storage device 20 via the input / output unit 15.

[0022] Here, the storage device 20 is a hard disk, an SSD, or the like. Generally, at least one partition is set in the storage device 20, and the partition is formatted in a predetermined file system format. The storage device 20 stores various information according to instructions input from the information processing apparatus 10, and outputs the stored information to the information processing apparatus 10.

[0023] The control unit 11 of the information processing apparatus 10 is a program-controlled device such as a CPU, and operates according to a program stored in the storage unit 12. In an example of the present embodiment, the information processing apparatus 10 is a smartphone. The control unit 11 executes processing for implementing general functions as a smartphone, and also executes processing such as accessing the storage device 20, storing information in the storage device 20, and reading information from the storage device 20. In an example of the present embodiment, the information stored in the storage device 20 may be music data or the like. In this case, the control unit 11 may execute processing such as reproducing and outputting the music data included in the read information.

[0024] Furthermore, the control unit 11 in this embodiment acquires information on the file system format of at least one partition set on the storage device 20 using multiple different methods, and if the file system format information acquired using these multiple different methods is different from each other, it performs a process to correct the file system format information. In other words, the control unit 11 in this embodiment implements the format information acquisition means and correction processing means of the present invention. The details of the processing of this control unit 11 will be described later.

[0025] The storage unit 12 is implemented as a non-volatile memory device or disk device, and holds the program executed by the control unit 11. This program may be provided on a computer-readable and non-temporary recording medium and copied and stored in the storage unit 12. The storage unit 12 also operates as the work memory for the control unit 11.

[0026] The operation unit 13 is a mouse, keyboard, or touch panel, and accepts user input and outputs information representing the content of that operation to the control unit 11. The display unit 14 is a display, and if the operation unit 13 is equipped with a touch panel, it may be placed on top of the touch panel. The display unit 14 displays and outputs the instructed information according to the instructions input from the control unit 11.

[0027] The input / output unit 15 is, for example, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface, and in this embodiment, it is connected to the storage device 20. The input / output unit 15 controls the storage device 20 and other devices connected to it, according to instructions input from the control unit 11. In this embodiment, the input / output unit 15 stores information in the storage device 20, instructs the storage device 20 to read the stored information, and outputs the information that the storage device 20 outputs in response to the instruction to the control unit 11.

[0028] The communication unit 16 is a short-range communication interface such as Bluetooth® or a network interface, and communicates with other devices connected via a network or the like according to instructions input from the control unit 11.

[0029] [Storage device format] Next, the formatting of the storage device 20 will be described. The formatting of the storage device 20 may be performed by the information processing device 10, or by another personal computer, etc. This formatting may be performed using a formatting software module (formatter) that has been prepared in advance for a computer-controlled device that performs the formatting process.

[0030] A formatted storage device 20 contains, as illustrated in Figure 2, at least one partition (a data storage area) P and an area B outside this partition that holds partition information, etc. In this area B, for example, the Master Boot Record (MBR) is recorded.

[0031] The Master Boot Record (MTB) has its contents defined by a standard (see, for example, https: / / ja.wikipedia.org / wiki / Master_Boot_Record, February 20, 2025), and includes a partition table that represents partition information. This partition table records information about the first sector of each partition and a partition identifier that represents the file system format. Specifically, this partition identifier is a predetermined value for each file system format. For example, in the case of the FAT32 format (File Allocation Table 32), this value is 0x0C (0x means that the following number is in hexadecimal; the same applies below), and in the case of the exFAT format (Extended File Allocation Table), it is set to 0x07 (or 0x17).

[0032] However, as already mentioned, it is known that some software modules used to format partitions may not correctly set the master boot record information, resulting in this value being set incorrectly. For example, in the case of a partition formatted in exFAT format, the partition identifier may be set to 0x0C (FAT32 format).

[0033] Furthermore, information about the partition's file system format is also recorded within that partition. Figure 2 shows an example of dumping the first part Q of a partition (part of the BPB (BIOS Parameter Block) of the boot block). As this example shows, from the 4th byte... 0x45,0x58,0x46,0x41,0x54 The data is arranged in this way, and by interpreting it with an ASCII code table, it can be understood that the file system format of this partition is "EXFAT" (exFAT format). Note that in the example in Figure 2, "0x" is omitted for illustrative purposes, and data other than the above data portion is dummy data.

[0034] [Control Unit Operation] The control unit 11 of the information processing device 10 in this embodiment takes into consideration the configuration of the information in the storage device 20 and includes the following example of functional configuration. That is, the control unit 11 executes a program stored in the storage unit 12 to realize a configuration that functionally includes a formal information acquisition unit 21 and a modification processing unit 22, as illustrated in Figure 3. Here, the formal information acquisition unit 21 includes a first acquisition unit 211 and a second acquisition unit 212.

[0035] The format information acquisition unit 21 starts processing at a predetermined timing, for example, when attempting to access data in any partition of the storage device 20, and acquires information on the file system format of at least one partition configured on the storage device in two or more different ways.

[0036] Specifically, the first acquisition unit 211 reads the master boot record from the storage device 20. The first acquisition unit 211 then obtains the partition identifier (information representing the file system format) from the partition information recorded in the master boot record, relating to the partition where the data to be accessed is stored (for example, the first partition).

[0037] Furthermore, the first acquisition unit 211 may perform different processing depending on whether or not the partition information of the storage device 20 is recorded in the format of a master boot record. For example, the first acquisition unit 211 may acquire information representing the file system format from the partition information of the storage device 20 only if the partition information of the storage device 20 is recorded in the format of a master boot record, and may not perform any processing otherwise (for example, if the partition information of the storage device 20 is recorded in the format of a GUID (Globally Unique Identifier)). This determination can be made by checking whether the value recorded at the end of the block corresponding to the master boot record is a predetermined value "0x55,0xAA". This is because if the information is recorded in the format of a master boot record, the value recorded at the end of the block is predetermined to be the above predetermined value (boot signature).

[0038] The second acquisition unit 212 also acquires information representing the partition's file system format (hereinafter referred to as partition file system information) from the first sector (the boot block BPB) within the first partition. Specifically, this second acquisition unit 212 acquires 8 bytes of data from the 4th to the 11th byte from the beginning of the first partition as partition file system information.

[0039] The modification processing unit 22 accepts information acquired by the format information acquisition unit 21 through various methods. For example, the modification processing unit 22 accepts the partition identifier acquired by the first acquisition unit 211 and the partition file system information acquired by the second acquisition unit 212.

[0040] As illustrated in Figure 4, the modification processing unit 22 associates a corresponding partition identifier (Y) with each piece of partition file system information (X) related to the file system format to be modified, and stores this information as modification table information. In the example in Figure 4, the file system format to be modified is assumed to be exFAT. In other words, Figure 4 is an example of a case where a partition identifier that does not represent exFAT is associated with the corresponding partition information in the master boot record, when in fact it should be associated with an exFAT partition identifier, and the partition identifier is to be modified.

[0041] Therefore, in Figure 4, the partition file system information related to exFAT (starting with 0x45, 0x58, 0x46, 0x41, 0x54) is recorded in association with the corresponding partition identifier 0x07.

[0042] Note that the partition identifier that should correspond to exFAT does not have to be 0x07; it could also be 0x17. However, in cases where either value is acceptable, you can record either value (0x07 in the example in Figure 4) as the partition identifier to correspond to.

[0043] The correction processing unit 22 refers to this correction table information and searches for an entry that matches the partition file system information acquired by the second acquisition unit 212. For example, if the partition file system information acquired by the second acquisition unit 212 starts with 0x45, 0x58, 0x46, 0x41, 0x54, it finds entry E, as exemplified in Figure 4, through a search. On the other hand, if the partition file system information acquired by the second acquisition unit 212 does not start with 0x45, 0x58, 0x46, 0x41, 0x54, it may terminate the process, assuming that there is no entry corresponding to the correction table information.

[0044] When the correction processing unit 22 finds the corresponding entry E from the correction table information, it reads the corresponding partition identifier (0x07 in the above example) contained in that entry E. The correction processing unit 22 then determines whether the read partition identifier matches the partition identifier obtained by the first acquisition unit 211.

[0045] At this point, the correction processing unit 22 terminates processing if it determines that the read partition identifier matches the partition identifier obtained by the first acquisition unit 211. On the other hand, if it determines that the read partition identifier does not match the partition identifier obtained by the first acquisition unit 211, that is, if it determines that the partition identifier obtained by the first acquisition unit 211 and the partition file system information obtained by the second acquisition unit 212 are inconsistent, it overwrites the value of the corresponding partition identifier in the master boot record of the storage device 20 with the corresponding partition identifier recorded in the above entry E. This corrects the file system format information.

[0046] [Operation] This embodiment basically has the above configuration and operates as shown in the following example. The information processing device 10 of this embodiment accesses the storage device at a specific timing, (a) When writing to storage device 20 (when checking partition information), (b) When reading from storage device 20, (c) When the storage device 20 is mounted (recognized) after it has been connected. The file system information modification process is executed at one of the following timings. Note that timings (a) and (b) may be performed only during the first write or read operation after the storage device 20 is mounted.

[0047] For example, when the information processing device 10 performs a file system information modification process, it determines whether or not a master boot record (MBR) is recorded on the storage device 20, as illustrated in Figure 5 (S11). As already mentioned, this determination can be made by checking whether the end of a data block starting from the first sector outside the partition is a predetermined value "0x55,0xAA".

[0048] If the information processing device 10 determines in step S11 that the master boot record is not recorded (S11: No), it terminates the process and continues accessing the storage device 20. For example, if a file system modification process is performed while a read operation is being executed, the device returns to the read operation and continues processing.

[0049] Furthermore, if the information processing device 10 determines in step S11 that a master boot record has been recorded (S11: Yes), it obtains a predetermined partition identifier, for example, the first partition, recorded in the master boot record (S12).

[0050] Here, the information processing device 10 may determine whether the partition identifier obtained in step S12 is a value predetermined to not require processing, such as when it represents a GPT (GUID Partition Table) (processing requirement determination: S13). If it is a value predetermined to not require processing (S13: no processing required), it may terminate the processing and continue the access processing to the storage device 20.

[0051] In step S13, if the partition identifier obtained in step S12 is not a value predetermined as not requiring processing (S13: processing required), the information processing device 10 then obtains partition file system information from the first sector (BPB) of the partition related to the partition identifier obtained in S12 (S14).

[0052] The information processing device 10 then determines whether there is a discrepancy between the information obtained in step S12 and the information obtained in step S14 (i.e., whether they represent different file system formats) (S15). This determination can be made using correction table information, as illustrated earlier.

[0053] Specifically, in this case, if the partition identifier obtained by the information processing device 10 in step S12 is "0x0C" (representing FAT32) and the partition file system information obtained in step S14 is "EXFAT" (representing exFAT), then in step S15, it is determined that there is a contradiction (S15: Yes).

[0054] If there is a discrepancy between the information obtained in step S12 and the information obtained in step S14, the information processing device 10 rewrites and updates the partition identifier of the corresponding partition in the master boot record (the partition identifier obtained in step S12) to one that is consistent with the partition file system information obtained in step S14 (correcting the MBR: S16). In this case, since the partition file system information obtained in step S14 was assumed to indicate that it was exFAT, the partition identifier of the corresponding partition in the master boot record (the partition identifier obtained in step S12) is rewritten to "0x07" and the process ends. In this case as well, the information processing device 10 continues the access process to the storage device 20.

[0055] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S15 that there is no inconsistency in the above information (S15: No), the information processing device 10 terminates the process and continues the access process to the storage device 20.

[0056] According to this example of the embodiment, even if the program module that performed the formatting incorrectly sets the file system format information in the master boot record, the file system format information will be corrected.

[0057] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the determination of whether or not the above modification process is necessary is based on whether or not the read partition identifier is a predetermined value. However, this embodiment is not limited to this, and additional determinations of necessity may be made in place of or in conjunction with this example.

[0058] Other examples of such necessity determinations include determining whether multiple partitions are set up. Depending on the operation of the information processing device 10 and the purpose of use of the storage device 20, if multiple partitions are set up (i.e., if there is a second partition), the correction process may be deemed unnecessary and no processing may be performed.

[0059] In this example, in step S13, if, for example, the partition identifier obtained in step S12 is a value predetermined to not require processing, or if a second partition exists (which can be determined by referring to the master boot record), the information processing device 10 terminates the above processing and continues the access processing to the storage device 20. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0060] 10 Information processing device, 11 Control unit, 12 Storage unit, 13 Operation unit, 14 Display unit, 15 Input / Output unit, 16 Communication unit, 20 Storage device, 21 Format information acquisition unit, 22 Correction processing unit, 211 First acquisition unit, 212 Second acquisition unit.

Claims

1. An information processing device connected to a formatted storage device, For at least one partition configured on the storage device, a format information acquisition means for acquiring information on the file system format of the partition in multiple different ways, The format information acquisition means includes a correction processing means that performs a correction process to correct the file system format information when the file system format information acquired by multiple different methods is different from the other information. Information processing device including

2. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, An information processing device in which one of the methods for the format information acquisition means to acquire information on the file system format of the partition is to acquire information on the partition identifier contained in information outside the partition.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, The modification processing means is an information processing device that modifies the file system format information by rewriting the partition identifier information.

4. An information processing apparatus according to claim 2, An information processing device in which one of the methods for the format information acquisition means to acquire information on the file system format of the partition is a method based on information within the corresponding partition.

5. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, The modification processing means is an information processing device that performs the modification processing only when the partition table included in the boot block is in the format of a master boot record.

6. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, The timing of writing data to the aforementioned storage device, The timing of reading data from the aforementioned storage device, or At any point in time when the storage device is recognized, the format information acquisition means acquires information on the file system format of at least one partition set on the storage device in a plurality of different ways. The correction processing means is an information processing device that performs a correction process to correct the file system format information when the file system format information obtained by multiple different methods is different from the other information.

7. An information processing device connected to a formatted storage device, For at least one partition configured on the storage device, a format information acquisition means for acquiring information on the file system format of the partition in multiple different ways, The format information acquisition means includes a correction processing means that performs a correction process to correct the file system format information when the file system format information acquired by multiple different methods is different from the other information. A program that makes it function as such.

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