Hard Disk Partial Overhead Sections Timing Lock
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional hard disk drives experience increased average latency and time-to-complete read sessions due to the need to find a full overhead section to attain timing lock, which limits the efficiency of data storage and retrieval.
Innovation Solution
The implementation allows HD drives to begin and complete timing lock attainment using two or more consecutive partial overhead sections, enabling the reading of user data without relying solely on full overhead sections, thereby reducing latency and time-to-complete read sessions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If hard disk drives use full overhead sections with complete preambles for timing lock, then timing lock reliability is improved, but average latency and time-to-complete read sessions increase
Solution Approach 1:
The overhead section is segmented into partial overhead sections containing only reduced preambles and full overhead sections containing complete preambles. The drive attempts to acquire timing lock using partial overhead sections first, and only falls back to full overhead sections if necessary. This segmentation allows the system to reduce average latency while maintaining timing lock reliability through the availability of full preambles when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of requiring complete preambles in every overhead section, the invention uses partial preambles in partial overhead sections for timing lock acquisition. This partial action is sufficient for most read operations, reducing the time spent waiting for full overhead sections while maintaining adequate timing lock reliability.
2Reliability
If hard disk drives use full overhead sections with complete preambles, then timing lock acquisition is reliable, but data storage capacity is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The track is divided into different types of overhead sections (partial and full) with different preamble lengths. By using shorter preambles in partial overhead sections, more space is available for user data while still maintaining the ability to acquire timing lock when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
Different sections of the track have different qualities - partial overhead sections have reduced preambles for maximizing data capacity, while full overhead sections have complete preambles for ensuring timing lock reliability. Each section is optimized for its specific purpose.
3Ease of operation
If hard disk drives rely on full overhead sections for timing lock, then read operation simplicity is maintained, but productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The timing lock acquisition process is made dynamic by attempting to use partial overhead sections first and only falling back to full overhead sections if timing lock cannot be acquired. This dynamic approach improves productivity by reducing average wait time while maintaining simplicity through automated fallback logic.
Solution Approach 2:
The drive uses feedback from the timing lock acquisition attempt to determine whether to use partial or full overhead sections. If timing lock is successfully acquired using a partial overhead section, the drive continues reading; if not, it falls back to full overhead sections, ensuring read operation reliability while improving overall productivity.
Data Source
AI summary
An exemplary hard disk (HD) track has a full overhead section followed by user sections interleaved with intervening partial overhead sections that are too short for an HD drive (HDD) to attain sufficient timing lock using only one partial overhead section, but long enough for the drive to attain sufficient timing lock using multiple partial overhead sections to read user data from the user section immediately following the partial overhead section where sufficient timing lock is attained. The drive begins, but does not finish, attaining timing lock based on the first partial overhead section, but the drive does finish attaining timing lock based on the last partial overhead section. The drive can also read user data in subsequent user sections by maintaining or re-attaining sufficient timing lock using each successive partial overhead section. Increased user data storage is achieved without significantly impacting average latency of HDD read sessions compared to conventional HD drives.