Mass data storage controller permitting data to be directly transferred between storage devices without transferring data to main memory and without transferring data over input-output bus

摘要

A system provides for direct transfer of data from one mass storage device, such as a hard disk drive, to another storage device, through an EIDE controller. Data from one disk drive, on one of the primary or secondary EIDE channels, is routed through the EIDE controller, to another disk drive on the other EIDE channel. The EIDE controller employs a pair of multiplexers and block move buses that allow data to be selectively routed between the primary and secondary EIDE channels. The processor in a host PC need only initialize the transfer with a few commands. Thereafter, the EIDE controller performs all block data transfers between the hard disk drives, without additional processor involvement.