Seagate Enterprise Performance 10K HDD v8 Product Manual, Rev. A
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4.3
Start/stop time
The drive accepts the commands listed in the
SAS Interface Manual
less than 3 seconds after DC power has been applied.
If the drive receives a NOTIFY (ENABLE SPINUP) primitive through either port and has not received a START STOP UNIT command with
the START bit equal to 0, the drive becomes ready for normal operations within 20 seconds (excluding the error recovery procedure).
If the drive receives a START STOP UNIT command with the START bit equal to 0 before receiving a NOTIFY (ENABLE SPINUP)
primitive, the drive waits for a START STOP UNIT command with the START bit equal to 1. After receiving a START STOP UNIT
command with the START bit equal to 1, the drive waits for a NOTIFY (ENABLE SPINUP) primitive. After receiving a NOTIFY (ENABLE
SPINUP) primitive through either port, the drive becomes ready for normal operations within 20 seconds (excluding the error
recovery procedure).
If the drive receives a START STOP UNIT command with the START bit and IMMED bit equal to 1 and does not receive a NOTIFY
(ENABLE SPINUP) primitive within 5 seconds, the drive fails the START STOP UNIT command.
The START STOP UNIT command may be used to command the drive to stop the spindle. Stop time is 20 seconds (maximum) from
removal of DC power. SCSI stop time is 20 seconds. There is no power control switch on the drive. However, power can be cycled on
the drive by utilizing SAS Power Disable feature defined by T10 (i.e. drive Pin 3 high).
4.4
Prefetch/multi-segmented cache control
The drive provides a prefetch (read look-ahead) and multi-segmented cache control algorithms that in many cases can enhance
system performance. Cache refers to the drive buffer storage space when it is used in cache operations. To select this feature, the
host sends the Mode Select command with the proper values in the applicable bytes in page 08h. Prefetch and cache operations are
independent features from the standpoint that each is enabled and disabled independently using the Mode Select command;
however, in actual operation, the prefetch feature overlaps cache operation somewhat as described in sections 4.5.1 and 4.5.2.
All default cache and prefetch mode parameter values (Mode Page 08h) for standard OEM versions of this drive family are given in
4.5
Cache operation
Note.
Refer to the
SAS Interface Manual
for more detail concerning the cache bits.
The data buffer size in Section 3.1 is the total physical buffer space on the drive. The entire capacity is not available as user data
cache, some portion of the buffer space is reserved for internal drive use.
The drive keeps track of the logical block addresses of the data stored in each segment of the buffer. If the cache is enabled (see RCD
bit in the
SAS Interface Manual
), data requested by the host with a read command is retrieved from the buffer, if possible, before any
disk access is initiated. If cache operation is not enabled, the buffer is still used, but only as circular buffer segments during disk
medium read operations (disregarding Prefetch operation for the moment). That is, the drive does not check in the buffer segments
for the requested read data, but goes directly to the medium to retrieve it. The retrieved data merely passes through some buffer
segment on the way to the host. All data transfers to the host are in accordance with buffer-full ratio rules. See the explanation
provided with the information about Mode Page 02h (disconnect/reconnect control) in the
SAS Interface Manual.
The following is a simplified description of the prefetch/cache operation:
Case A
—read command is received and all of the requested logical blocks are already in the cache:
1.
Drive transfers the requested logical blocks to the initiator.
Case B
—A Read command requests data, and at least one requested logical block is not in any segment of the cache:
1.
The drive fetches the requested logical blocks from the disk and transfers them into a segment, and then from there to the host
in accordance with the Mode Select Disconnect/Reconnect parameters, page 02h.
2.
If the prefetch feature is enabled, refer to section 4.5.2 for operation from this point.
