METHOD FOR DETECTING RETRIABLE ERRORS AND APPARATUS FOR REORIENTING A TRANSDUCER IN A DATA STORAGE SYSTEM

摘要

In apparatus and method for record reorientation following error detection in a data storage system (10), each data track (30) is subdivided into equal time-length recording cells which are sequentially numbered past an index point with the beginning of each field of each record coinciding with an initial cell for the field. Upon detection of a retriable error within a given field, the initial cell for the field is determined and stored, the system is disconnected from channel interface (20), and reorientation is attempted by advancing a transducer (26) addressing the track (30) past the index point to a location which is a selected distance upstream of the stored cell number. If a selected channel command is then received within a given time interval, the system is reconnected to the channel and reorientation is effected as the transducer (26) enters the field the initial cell of which was stored. If the selected channel command is received late, the subsystem waits one revolution of the track and then reorients without looking for further channel commands.