Patent ID: 8245003
Filing Date: 2012-08-14
Classification: G06F,G11B,Y02D

Abstract:
1. A composite memory device, comprising: a recording medium having a first data area with first addresses assigned to respective clusters of a predetermined size; a nonvolatile solid-state storage medium having a second data area with second addresses assigned to respective clusters of a predetermined size, a common directory area storing both the leading cluster addresses of the respective clusters of the first data area of the recording medium and the leading cluster addresses of the respective clusters of the second data area of the nonvolatile solid-state storage medium, and a common table storing both the addresses of cluster chains of the first data area of the recording medium that start from the leading cluster addresses of the respective clusters of the first data area of the recording medium and the addresses of cluster chains of the second data area of the nonvolatile solid-state storage medium that start from the leading cluster addresses of the respective clusters of the second data area of the nonvolatile solid-state storage medium; an interface section to be connected to a host appliance; retrieval means for retrieving the address of the leading cluster of data to be moved or copied by referring to the common directory area storing the leading cluster address of the data written to the first data area or the second data area at the time of moving or copying data written to the first data area to the second data area or data written to the second data area to the first data area; first notification means for notifying the host appliance of the address of the leading cluster retrieved by the retrieval means by way of the interface section; first reception means for receiving a first signal ordering to move or copy data from the first data area to the second data area or a second signal ordering to move or copy data from the second data area to the first data area in response to the notification by the first notification means; read means for reading, from the common table, the addresses of the cluster chain of the data to be moved or copied starting from the leading cluster address of the data written to the first data area or the second data area, wherein the read means is operable to read the addresses of the cluster chain starting from the address of the leading cluster of the data to be moved or copied from the common table upon receiving the first signal or the second signal by the first reception means; free area detection means for detecting a free area from the second data area at the time of moving or copying data from the first data area to the second data area and from the first data area at the time of moving or copying data from the second data area to the first data area; moving/copying means for moving or copying the data to be moved or copied to the free area detected by the free area detection means; updating means for updating the cluster chain read from the common table by the read means so as to carry the address of the site of move or copying at the time of move or copying of data by the moving/copying means; second notification means for notifying the host appliance of the changed address of the leading cluster by way of the interface section at the time of completion of updating the cluster chain by the updating means; second reception means for receiving a signal ordering to change the address of the leading cluster from the host appliance by way of the interface section in response to the notification by the second notification means; changing means for changing the address of the leading cluster in the common directory area to the address of the leading cluster of the data moved or copied by the moving/copying means at the time of receiving a signal ordering to change the address of the leading cluster by the second reception means from the host appliance; environmental condition detection means for detecting an abnormal environmental condition during the moving or copying of the data; and means for executing a process in response to detecting an abnormal environmental condition during the moving or copying of the data, the process including deleting the updated cluster chain, detecting a free area from the second data area, moving or copying the data to be moved or copied to the free area, and reconnecting the cluster chain.