Patent ID: 7660978

Claim:
A host computer system for extracting diagnostic information a hard drive device using a hard drive device interface, a system comprising: a memory of the hard drive device, configured during its manufacturing process, with page code information containing vendor unique diagnostic sequence command information for retrieving at least one of operational, performance and health data stored within the hard drive device, the memory of the hard drive device further configured to measure and record a performance log data file containing measured operational, performance and health data of the hard drive device; the host computer connected to the hard drive through a hard drive device interface so that the host computer has operational control over the hard drive device and a process residing on the host computer including instructions to: issue from the host computer through the hard drive interface an inquiry command to the hard drive device to retrieve the page code information; extract from the hard drive device the page code information containing the vendor unique diagnostic sequence command information; interpret the vendor unique diagnostic sequence command information within the host computer and presenting a plurality of selectable options for diagnosing operational, performance and health parameters within the peripheral device to a user via a graphical user interface; issue one or more corresponding selected vendor unique diagnostic sequence commands via the hard drive device interface, so that operational, performance, and health parameters within the hard drive device can the retrieved from the performance log data file within the hard drive device; and present the retrieved performance log data to the user via the graphical user interface, wherein the user can observe via the graphical user interface, one or more operational, performance and health parameters to measured within the hard drive device.