Abstract: A system is described including a disk-based data cartridge that contains a plurality of disk drives, and that physically conforms to industry standard dimensions for magnetic data tape cartridges. A tape drive emulator receives the disk-based data cartridge and stores data within the plurality of disk drives in accordance with a format that emulates a tape storage format. A controller within the tape drive emulator utilizes RAID techniques to store data on the plurality of disk drives, thereby achieving increased performance, fault tolerance, or combinations thereof. A host computing device communicates the data to the tape drive emulator via a tape drive communication protocol. An automation unit selectively retrieves the disk-based data cartridge from a data tape cartridge library and engages the disk-based data cartridge with the tape drive emulator.

Abstract: A data storage includes multiple disk units accessible to multiple processors/servers. The multiple disk units include a master disk unit and a one or more data-mirroring disk units. A data-mirroring disk unit is assigned to a corresponding ones of the multiple servers by one of the processors designated as the mount manager. Data is written by the processors to the data storage is written to the master disk unit, and copied by the data storage to the data-mirroring disk units. Data is read by each of the processors from the data-mirroring disk unit assigned to such processor.

Abstract: A technique manages the addition of disks to a volume of a storage system. A disk addition procedure is encapsulated into a DISKADD object conforming to a configuration management framework used to implement a RAID subsystem of the storage system. The DISKADD object is responsible for determining a set of available disks required to satisfy a disk addition request issued by an operator through a user interface of a storage operating system executing on the storage system. Furthermore, the DISKADD object is responsible for monitoring the state of the disks, including preparation/initialization of the disks (e.g., disk zeroing) and possible disk failures, as well as placing those disks into RAID groups of the volume once preparation completes. Persistent storage of the state of a pending disk addition is then accomplished using an implementation of the configuration management framework.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for providing seamless functionality in a computer are disclosed. For example, a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) configuration manager provides an operating system with a content of a virtual disk interface to enable a commensurate software RAID to be utilized after the operating system is loaded, loads a driver to abstract a plurality of disk interfaces for a plurality of disks, publishes a physical access abstraction interface and a device path protocol for each disk, obtains a global variable to obtain a specific RAID technique, publishes a virtual disk interface for the plurality of disks and maps the plurality of disks according to the specific RAID technique. An encrypted file system manager is also included to layer an encoded File Allocation Table on top of a disk and to pass to the operating system an Embedded Root Key to provide access to an encrypted Firmware Interface System Partition.

Abstract: A method and system for migrating a computer operating system to a personal computer. More specifically, the invention relates to a single, integrated method and system for migrating a computer operating system to a personal computer that includes the process of and instructions for detecting dynamically the type of disk operating system (DOS) network device to be booted by an associated DOS network by examining the content of the personal computer’s CMOS/BIOS, and dynamically selecting the proper image for the personal computer as a function of information with the CMOS/BIOS.

Abstract: A method is presented for using a hard disk drive which contains a non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM) and a computer-usable disk medium. A usage value is maintained for the number of accesses to the computer-usable disk medium, and the usage value is stored within the NVRAM. In a system that is connected to multiple hard disk drives, the usage values for the hard disk drives can be compared to determine a youngest disk drive or a lowest amount of usage amongst the multiple hard disk drives. When data needs to be mirrored or backed-up to one of the hard disk drives, it can be copied to the youngest or least-used hard disk drive. If an operating system installation needs to be performed, the operating system files can be stored on the youngest or least-used hard disk drive.

Abstract: A self-Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) system using a hard disk drive having a backup head and a method of writing data to and reading data from the hard disk drive having the backup head are provided. A self-RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) system using a hard disk drive with at least one writable and readable disk medium includes a spindle motor, heads, an actuator arm, and a controller. The spindle motor rotates the disk medium. The heads face each other above and below the disk medium. The actuator arm drives the heads. The controller controls the heads to write data to and read data from the disk medium using a mode selection signal. The controller examines the mode selection signal, controls a first head which is referred to as a primary head and a second head which is referred to as a backup head to write the same data to and read the same data from the disk medium when the hard disk drive operates under a self-RAID mode, and controls the first head and the second head to write different data to and read different data from the disk medium when the hard disk drive operates under a normal mode.

Abstract: A vehicle navigation system includes a hard disk drive, which stores an old navigation software set; an optical disk drive which is accessible to an optical disk which stores a new navigation software set; a first executing section which drives the hard disk drive; and a second executing section which drives the optical disk drive. An install section responds to a navigation instruction to control the first executing section to drive the hard disk drive such that a vehicle navigation is carried out based on the old navigation software set, when the optical disk is not available. Also, the install section controls the second executing section to drive the optical disk drive such that the vehicle navigation is carried out based on the new navigation software set and the first and second executing sections to drive the hard disk drive and the optical disk drive such that the new navigation software set is installed from the optical disk into the hard disk drive, when the optical disk is available.

Abstract: There is provided a disk device sharing system which, in an environment in which plural computers and a shared hard disk device are interconnected via a network, can realize safe data communication between the computers and the hard disk device and can reduce the operation cost needed for maintenance of the computers. One computer is equipped with two OSs. One is a first OS executing an application program. The other is a second OS performing communication processing with a shared hard disk device. Access from the application program to the shared hard disk device must be done via the second OS. The application program and the first OS are controlled so as not to directly access the hard disk device.

Abstract: Prior to the loading of a main program, the rotation speed of a disk provided in a hard disk drive is increased to a common rotation speed adapting to all types of hard disk drive. At the common rotation speed and a common recording density, a main program is read from a system area in the disk where the main program is recorded. The main program is written to a RAM provided in a hard disk controller. After control processing of the hard disk drive is handed over to the main program, the rotation speed of the disk is increased to a proper rotation speed for a device. This allows main programs to be loaded in a common way from disks provided in respective hard disk drives independent of the type thereof.

Abstract: The SCSI or the fibre channel (FC) disk drive, called SCSI-FC disk drive has its own internal queue and internal scheduler which maximize its own throughput. The request service order scheduled by the block device drive in Linux is changed by the disk internal scheduler (DIS) and we call this reordering. The conventional real-time disk schedulers are based on Linux block device driver, and the deadlines of the real-time requests are not guaranteed by the reordering of the DIS. This paper proposes a real-time disk scheduling architecture on Linux which solves the reordering problem. It consists of the global scheduler and the local scheduler. The global scheduler selects the real-time requests, predicts their disk I/O times and determines the order based on the spatial locality. The local scheduler is the DIS controlled by the SCSI-FC device driver. The device driver notifies the DIS that the real-time requests with the earlier deadlines must be served before those with the later deadlines. The local scheduler feeds back the measured disk service time to the global scheduler when a requested disk service completes. We have implemented the proposed multimedia disk scheduler on Linux, and the experimental results show that the deadline misses of periodic requests can be reduced up to 19 times (94.7%) by the proposed method.

Abstract: A service package (302)is coupled to computing device (201) via a coupling such as network (310). Service package (302) may include any of a variety of sources such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, flash memory, and a solid-state disk. Additionally service package (302) may be local (e.g. a disk that is accessed by a disk drive of computing device (201) or remote (e.g. a disk at a remote server accesed over network (310). Server package (302) includes a plurality of instruction set (304) corresponds to a state or phase of the components to be updated.

Abstract: PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To transfer data between new and old disk devices without changing a disk definition of a host computer. SOLUTION: To copy the data to a transfer destination disk device through a switch having an on-line data transfer function between the host computer and a data transfer source disk device while continuing disk access from the host computer. When a SCSI command for distinguishing a disk is issued from the host computer after the data transfer, a response of the transfer source disk device is returned. COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Abstract: PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a disk storage system allowing a disk storage device itself to autonomously transfer data without providing a dedicated device managing the disk storage device constituting a disk array system, and allowing complementing of storage of data between the disk storage devices. SOLUTION: This disk storage device connected to a host computer 1 has a connection adapter part 100 connected to at least two other disk storage devices, having a data transfer means executing a transfer process of the data between it and the other disk storage device, and holding management information about the data performed with the transfer process by the data transfer means. COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Abstract: Method and system to save historical hard disk performance data are described. In one embodiment, the method and system include storing historical hard disk performance data on a non-volatile memory unit of a system; the data being available on the memory unit after the system has been rebooted. In one embodiment, the non-volatile memory unit is a cache of the hard disk. Furthermore, the historical performance data may be used to implement a power management policy of the hard disk.

Abstract: In the last column of Techtalk we have reviewed portable devices and the related learning applications, focusing on the PDA (personal digital assistant). In this column, we will look at how portable storage devices can meet the need to save and transport large files and data. Students are being required to produce larger and more complicated multimedia files with text, audio, and video which require larger storage capacity.Future Technology DirectionsTwo major trends have influenced the direction of storage technology. First is the continued miniaturization of technology, or nanotechnology. Ulrich (2003) has identified the beginning of nanotechnology with the 1989 experiment which broke the atom barrier, allowing two IBM scientists, Eirlger and Schweizer to miniaturize the IBM logo to the size of the period at the end of this sentence. This discovery has rapidy impacted business and educational technology as devices to store data have become physically smaller. A second trend relates to where and how the data is stored. In business and education, portable storage devices now store data separate from applications, allowing us to access files from anywhere.Running on EmptyThe most common portable storage device has been the floppy disk; first a 5.25-inch disk storing 800 KB (kilo-bytes, a thousand bytes) replaced by a 3.5-inch storing 1.4 MB (mega-bytes, a million bytes). Then, in 1998, Apple made the bold move to discontinue shipping floppy disk drives with their Macintosh computers. In 2003, Dell took the same step (Musthaler, 2003). The demise of the floppy disk drive in new computers was due to the fact that many file sizes had increased beyond the capacity of the 1.4 MB. A slide show might fit on a floppy disk but not the sound files or videos files to support it. Documents could not be moved from lab to lab or from home to a printer at school.Zip DrivesBefore the demise of the floppy in 1995, an alternate solution appeared to solve the size problem: an external zip disk (Rosomer, 2003). A zip disk looks like a thick 3.5-inch floppy but stores 100 MB. Not only could the zip disk store more information, but it could transfer data four times as quickly (400 Kbps [kilo-bits per second] compared to 1.4 Mbps [mega-bits per second]). Recently, zip disks expanded to 250 MB and 750 MB, an apparent solution to files requiring a larger amount of memory. But with the extra space, data files became even larger. Iomega responded with Jaz drives holding 2 GB (giga-bytes, 2 billion bytes).However, to use a zip disk as the portable storage device, users needed a zip drive to read and write the disk on their home computer, lab computer, or classroom computer where the presentation was to be shown. Since the drive itself was not very heavy (weighing half a pound), some solved this problem by carrying an external zip drive along with their disk to the next computer.Many students did not have the resources to purchase the zip drive or the more expensive zip disks (ranging from $6 for each 100-MB disk to $56 for each 750-MB disk). Still others were beginning to create video files using programs like iMovie (Apple Computer, 2003b), Movie Maker (Microsoft, 2003), or audio files requiring 20 GB or more.Bigger and BetterTo solve this latest size problem, portable hard disk drives (HDD) have emerged in the last few years. Ranging from 1 GB to 250 GB, these HDDs weigh less than three pounds, have data transfer rates close to 480 Mbps, and fit in your shirt pocket. Special hard drives called MP3 players, like the iPod, range from 10 GB to 40 GB and are designed to store music or data (Apple Computer, 2003c). Others are MP4 players/recorders, like the Cinema-to-go, which include built-in or plug-in microphones, allowing recording of upwards of 20,000 minutes of audio or 50 movies (Archos, 2003).With hard drives these sizes, students and educators could create any size file and be able to take it with them to almost any computer. …

Abstract: The present invention is a method of networking hard disk recorders to create a virtual common hard disk recorder resource. Two or more networked hard disk recorders are networked together to create a virtual hard disk recorder with the pooled capabilities of all networked hard disk recorders. To provide such pooled capabilities, the present invention provides for a virtual common writing feature, wherein each hard disk recorder may write content to any of the other networked hard disk recorders. The present invention also provides for a virtual common reading feature, wherein each hard disk recorder may write content to any of the other hard disk recorders.

Abstract: A system for generating and loading software onto hard disk drives, particularly replacement hard disk drives without having to create a separate master disk for each unique software configuration, includes a storage assembly for storing at least one of a predefined drive image and a software component. An image builder is coupled to the storage assembly within the network for building a drive image for the hard disk drive using at least one of the predefined drive image and the software component. The created drive image is then stored to the storage assembly and downloaded to the hard disk drive via the network.

Abstract: PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording/reproducing device wherein data such as document files are not easily leaked even when the entire device is stolen. SOLUTION: This recording/reproducing device is capable of recording AV (audio visual) data files and DOS (disk operating system) data files and provided with an enciphering means 34 for enciphering the entered AV data files and DOS data files, a recording system signal processing means 10 for processing the data files enciphered by the enciphering means to generate recording signals, and a recording/reproducing means 31 for recording the recording signal generated by the recording system signal processing means or playing back a recording medium to output a reproduction signal. COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Abstract: In this paper, a method of mass data storage in embedded application is presented. It uses an ARM microprocessor to control a large volume IDE hard disk according ATA standard. Using Fat32 file system, the resources on the hard disk can be shared with the PC built on Windows OS. This method is applicable for the environment without network connections especially, and it has offered a new idea for the embedded microprocessor applications.

Abstract: The conventional data recorder is based on the tape for physics experiments. A modular disk recorder is developed that consists of data-splitting modules (DSM), data-recording modules (DRM) and commodity disk drives. This innovative disk recorder has a better performance and higher reliability than the tape recorder. It can be configured flexibly as different redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) structures to record acquired data according to different applications.