System and method for providing variable sector-format operation

Details System and method for providing variable sector-format operation System and method for providing variable sector-format operation

1996-12-02

1998-09-22

Swann, Tod R.

Electrical computers and digital processing systems: memory

Storage accessing and control

Specific memory composition

364DIG1, G06F 1200

Patent

active

058130250

ABSTRACT:
A system and method are disclosed for providing computers, particularly the Unisys A series computers, with the capability to function with disk drives of more than one sector format, especially if a predetermined sector format is inefficient and/or cost prohibitive. Interfacing is provided for processing I/O requests between a predetermined logical sector format (e.g., 180 byte sectors) and a variable physical sector format (e.g., 512 or 720 byte sectors). Read operations compare read request addresses to physical sector boundaries and discard unwanted data. Write operations, using at least one sector buffer, perform a read/modify/write cycle, such that the necessary physical sector data not associated with the write request is read into the sector buffer, modified and written back to the disk along with the write data inserted at the appropriate location. This system and method can effectively increase the usable capacity of selected disk drives by 15-20%.

REFERENCES:
patent: 5463762 (1995-10-01), Morrissey et al.
patent: 5497476 (1996-03-01), Oldfield et al.
patent: 5526507 (1996-06-01), Hill

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