Patent ID: 6891740

Claim:
A method for speculatively reading data from a secondary storage device, the method comprising: reading a first datum from a secondary storage device, the secondary storage device being capable of storing data on a storage medium; determining a probability of the secondary storage device receiving a read request for a second datum stored on the storage medium, the second datum being logically related to the first datum; if the probability is above a pre-determined probability value, then determining a cost to speculatively read the second datum, the cost being based on a position of a read/write head, relative to the second datum's physical location on the fixed medium, when the read/write head is reading the first datum; if the cost to speculatively read the second datum is below a pre-determined cost value, then reading the second datum without a request being received from outside the secondary storage device for the second datum; storing the second datum in a secondary storage device cache; and producing the second datum from the secondary storage device cache if the secondary storage device receives a later request for the second datum.