Methods for diagnosing malfunctions in a disk drive

摘要

A method useful in a disk drive for diagnosing malfunctions in the path by which data codes are encoded into disk codes and written to the disk and by which disk codes are read from the disk and decoded into data codes. The disk drive in which the method is used includes control apparatus having a memory for controlling operation of the disk drive, a read-write processor for translating data codes to disk codes and vice-versa, and data transfer means including a memory for transferring data codes internally in the disk drive. In the method, a copy of a test pattern stored in the memory belonging to the control apparatus is made and provided to the memory in the data transfer means. It is provided from then to the read-write processor, which translates the data codes in the copy to disk codes and writes them to a diagnostic track on the disk. The disk codes are then read from the diagnostic track and translated by the read-write processor. The translated data codes are compared with the original test pattern to determine whether there are faults in the path to and from the disk.