(12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2008/0189578 A1 Raghuraman Et Al
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US 20080189578A1 (19) United States (12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2008/0189578 A1 Raghuraman et al. (43) Pub. Date: Aug. 7, 2008 (54) DISK FAILURE PREVENTION AND ERROR Publication Classification CORRECTION (51) Int. Cl. (75) Inventors: Melur K. Raghuraman, G06F II/00 (2006.01) Sammamish, WA (US); Kai Chen, (52) U.S. Cl. .......................................................... 714/47 Sammamish, WA (US) (57) ABSTRACT Correspondence Address: AMIN. TUROCY & CALVIN, LLP The Subject disclosure pertains to systems and methods that 24TH FLOOR, NATIONAL CITY CENTER, 1900 facilitate prevention of hard disk drive failure. Sophisticated EAST NINTH STREET drives are likely to be capable of detecting many of the con ditions that either cause or precede hard disk drive failure. CLEVELAND, OH 44114 Such information can be provided to a host operating system, (73) Assignee: Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, analyzed and used to correct errors associated with the hard disk drive to reduce the probability of failure and/or damage WA (US) of the hard disk drive. The host operating system can respond (21) Appl. No.: 11/671,156 by taking corrective actions that alleviate or mitigate hostile conditions (e.g., excessive vibration, heat, humidity and the (22) Filed: Feb. 5, 2007 like) prior to disk failure. A^ 100 HOST OPERATING SYSTEM T 106 DIAGNOSTIC COMPONENT 108 INFORMATION COMPONENT HARD DISK 110 DRIVE EVALUATION COMPONENT 112 RESPONSE COMPONENT Patent Application Publication Aug. 7, 2008 Sheet 1 of 11 US 2008/0189578A1 A^ 100 HOST OPERATING SYSTEM - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 106 DIAGNOSTIC COMPONENT 108 INFORMATION COMPONENT HARD DISK 110 DRIVE EVALUATION COMPONENT 112 RESPONSE COMPONENT F.G. 1 Patent Application Publication Aug. 7, 2008 Sheet 2 of 11 US 2008/0189578A1 104 HOST OPERATING SYSTEM 202 HARD DISK DRIVER 204 102 EVENT HANDLER HARD DISK DRIVE 106 DIAGNOSTIC COMPONENT 206 FIG 2 Patent Application Publication Aug. 7, 2008 Sheet 3 of 11 US 2008/0189578A1 106 DIAGNOSTIC COMPONENT INFORMATION COMPONENMPONENT EVALUATION COMPONENT RESPONSE COMPONENT DISKINFORMATION POLICIES HISTORY POLICIES FIG 3 Patent Application Publication Aug. 7, 2008 Sheet 4 of 11 US 2008/0189578A1 106 DIAGNOSTIC COMPONENT INFORMATION EVALUATION COMPONENT COMPONENT MACHINET LEARNING RESPONSE COMPONENT COMPONENT L - DISKINFORMATION POLICIES HISTORY POLICIES FIG. 4 Patent Application Publication Aug. 7, 2008 Sheet 5 of 11 US 2008/0189578A1 104 HOST OPERATING SYSTEM 106 AD AD. O. O. O. D D, AD O O. D. D. O. D. O. D. -? - - - - DIAGNOSTIC COMPONENT INFORMATION EVALUATION COMPONENT COMPONENT MACHINET LEARNING RESPONSE COMPONENT COMPONENT - - - - - - - - - - - - DISKINFORMATION POLICIES : HISTORY POLICIES SD 06 USER 502 INTERFACE FIG.S Patent Application Publication Aug. 7, 2008 Sheet 6 of 11 US 2008/0189578A1 A^ 600 602 OBTAIN DISKINFORMATION 604 OBTAIN DISK POLICY(IES) 606 ANALYZE INFORMATION W/ RESPECT TO POLICY(IES) 608 INITIATE RESPONSE FIG. 6 Patent Application Publication Aug. 7, 2008 Sheet 7 of 11 US 2008/0189578A1 -70 702 ALERT USER 708 SER RESPONS DETERMINE EXPECTED'? RESPONSE INITIATE RESPONSE INITIATE USER 710 TO AVOID DISK DIRECTED FAILURE RESPONSE LOG EVENT AND RESPONSE FIG 7 Patent Application Publication Aug. 7, 2008 Sheet 8 of 11 US 2008/0189578A1 A^ 800 START 802 OBTAIN DISKINFORMATION 804 OBTAIN DISK POLICY(IES) ANALYZE INFORMATION W/ 806 RESPECT TOPOLICY(IES) 808 SCAN HARD DISK DRIVE 810 NO DAMAGE TO DISK2 REPAIR AFFECTED DATA FILE REPAIR SUCCESSFUL2 YES NOTIFY USER OF DAMAGE END FIG. 8 Patent Application Publication Aug. 7, 2008 Sheet 9 of 11 US 2008/0189578A1 A^ 900 902 PROVIDE USER INTERFACE ANALYZE USER 904 INFORMATION GENERATE USER POLICIES 906 BASED UPONUSER INFORMATION 908 ANALYZE USAGE PATTERNS GENERATE/ADAPT POLICIES 910 BASEDUPON USAGE PATTERNS FIG 9 Patent Application Publication Aug. 7, 2008 Sheet 10 of 11 US 2008/0189578A1 -1028 ^1010 - - - - - APPLICATION(S) I - - - O AD Os D. O. O. D. - - - - - - - - 1012 PROCESSING SYSTEM MEMORY STORAGE INTERFACE COMPONENT(S) INPUT OUTPUT Fig. 10 Patent Application Publication Aug. 7, 2008 Sheet 11 of 11 US 2008/0189578A1 Y 1100 CLIENT SERVER DATA DATA STORE(S) STORE(S) COMMUNICATION FRAMEWORK Fig.11 US 2008/O 189578 A1 Aug. 7, 2008 DISK FAILURE PREVENTION AND ERROR or damage to the magnetic medium. An increase in the error CORRECTION rate may indicate imminent hard disk drive failure. SUMMARY CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 0005. The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the 0001. This application is related to U.S. Provisional Patent claimed Subject matter. This Summary is not an extensive Application Ser. No. 60/690,549, filed on Jun. 14, 2005, and overview. It is not intended to identify key/critical elements or entitled HARD DISK DRIVE REAL-TIME CONDITION to delineate the scope of the claimed subject matter. Its sole REPORTING AND ERROR CORRECTION and United purpose is to present Some concepts in a simplified form as a States Nonprovisional patent application Ser. No. 1 1/297, prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later. 269, filed on Dec. 8, 2005 and entitled HARD DISKDRIVE 0006 Briefly described, the provided subject matter con CONDITION REPORTING AND ERROR CORRECTION. cerns prevention of hard disk drive failure. Hard disk drive The entireties of these applications are incorporated herein by failure can cause devastating loss of data. However, Sophisti reference. cated drives are likely to be capable of detecting many of the conditions that either cause or precede hard disk drive failure. Such information can be provided to a host operating system, BACKGROUND analyzed and used to protect the drive from hostile operating conditions and/or prevent damage to the hard disk drive. 0002 Hard disk drives are the primary computer storage 0007. A host operating system associated with a hard disk device in most computing systems. Maintaining a hard disk drive can include a diagnostic system capable of obtaining drive's proper working environment is critical for preventing and evaluating disk information including, but not limited to, a hard disk drive from failing. For example, excessive vibra operating conditions (e.g., heat, humidity and vibration), tion during hard disk drive operation can cause the read/write drive performance and most any other data relevant to disk head to contact the magnetic disk, Scratching the disk Surface operation and/or risk of failure. The disk information can be and damaging the hard disk drive. In addition, Sudden evaluated based upon a set of policies specified by the host changes in temperature and humidity may cause condensa operating system. Additionally, users can create or modify tion inside the hard disk drive. The condensation may cause policies to adapt operation for user requirements. Further the read/write head to adhere to the surface of the disk and more, disk information provided by the hard disk drive can prevent the disk from rotating. include Suggested actions to compensate or correct for errors or hostile conditions. Policies can be updated or adapted 0003. Even under optimal conditions, hard disk drives based upon user preferences and/or usage patterns. may eventually fail. It is usually simply a question of when 0008. The diagnostic system can utilize a variety of the hard disk drive will fail and what impact the failure will responses or corrective actions to reduce the risk of disk have on the computing environment in which the hard disk failure. For example, the diagnostic system can control rate of drive is operating. To minimize loss of data in case of hard disk input/output (I/O), modify configuration to reduce disk disk drive failure, the data on a hard disk drive may be copied speed, Switch to sleep mode, perform disk checks, repair data or “backed up' to other computer storage media. Generally, files and perform most any other suitable action to avert businesses and large computer networks have established damage to the hard disk drive and/or mitigate loss of data. procedures for copying data from their hard disk drives to a Additionally, the diagnostic system can monitor disk condi separate storage medium on a periodic basis. Consequently, tions and evaluate trends over a period of time. In aspects, the when a hard disk drive is working correctly and data is copied diagnostic system can respond automatically to reduce risk of periodically, a computer or network may spend valuable time failure without requiring user input. However, a user interface copying data from a hard disk drive unnecessarily. Moreover, can be provided to notify users of possible failure and allow many individuals and Small networks do not make copies of users to select from possible responses, to specify failure the data on their hard disk drives on a regular basis, if at all. If prevention policies and to monitor drive performance. the hard disk drive data has not been copied for a long period 0009. To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related of time prior to a hard disk drive failure, the computer or ends, certain illustrative aspects of the claimed Subject matter network may lose valuable data. Restoring or recreating lost are described herein in connection with the following descrip data may be expensive, time-consuming and, depending upon tion and the annexed drawings. These aspects are indicative of the nature of the data, potentially devastating to an individual various ways in which the Subject matter may be practiced, all or business. of which are intended to be within the scope of the claimed 0004 As hard disk drives have increased in recording Subject matter. Other advantages and novel features may density and data output rate, hard disk drive manufacturers become apparent from the following detailed description have also increased the sophistication of the hard disk drive to when considered in conjunction with the drawings. increase performance and mean time between failures. Hard disk drives may include environmental sensors such as tem BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS perature, vibration, G-force sensors and the like.