Patent ID: 6611907
Filing Date: 2003-08-26
Classification: G06F,G11B

Abstract:
An access apparatus for performing file access on a semiconductor memory card that has a memory area comprising a plurality of sectors by managing data in each group of 2j sectors (j being 0 or a positive integer) as a cluster, and managing one or more clusters as a file, each group of 2i consecutive sectors in the memory area forming a block (i being 0 or a positive integer), and the block being a smallest unit on which data erasure can be performed, said access apparatus comprising:a calculation unit operable to calculate a size of volume management information based on a number of clusters in the memory area that are to be managed, the volume management information including a master boot record, a partition table, partition boot sector information, a file allocation table, and a root directory entry, the file allocation table indicating, for each file, links between clusters corresponding to the file; a reserving unit operable to reserve a first area used for recording the volume management information, and a second area used for recording user data, the first area having a data size larger than the calculated volume management information and including two or more blocks, and the second area being formed from blocks following the first area; and a recording unit operable to record the volume management information in the first area, and the user data in the second area, and to record the master boot record and the partition table in a first sector of a first block of the first area, skip a predetermined number of sectors and then record the partition boot sector information, the file allocations table, and the root directory entry in subsequent sectors in order to align an end of the first area with an end of the root directory entry, wherein the partition boot sector information, the file allocation table, and the root directory entry are recorded in at least one block which is different from the first block.