Seagate ST336854FC, ST3146954FC, ST373554FC manual Caching write data, Prefetch operation

4.5.1Caching write data

Write caching is a write operation by the drive that makes use of a drive buffer storage area where the data to be written to the medium is stored while the drive performs the Write command.

If read caching is enabled (RCD=0), then data written to the medium is retained in the cache to be made avail- able for future read cache hits. The same buffer space and segmentation is used as set up for read functions. The buffer segmentation scheme is set up or changed independently, having nothing to do with the state of RCD. When a write command is issued, if RCD=0, the cache is first checked to see if any logical blocks that are to be written are already stored in the cache from a previous read or write command. If there are, the respective cache segments are cleared. The new data is cached for subsequent Read commands.

If the number of write data logical blocks exceed the size of the segment being written into, when the end of the segment is reached, the data is written into the beginning of the same cache segment, overwriting the data that was written there at the beginning of the operation; however, the drive does not overwrite data that has not yet been written to the medium.

If write caching is enabled (WCE=1), then the drive may return Good status on a write command after the data has been transferred into the cache, but before the data has been written to the medium. If an error occurs while writing the data to the medium, and Good status has already been returned, a deferred error will be gen- erated.

The Synchronize Cache command may be used to force the drive to write all cached write data to the medium. Upon completion of a Synchronize Cache command, all data received from previous write commands will have been written to the medium.

Table 18 shows the mode default settings for the drive.

4.5.2Prefetch operation

If the Prefetch feature is enabled, data in contiguous logical blocks on the disc immediately beyond that which was requested by a Read command are retrieved and stored in the buffer for immediate transfer from the buffer to the host on subsequent Read commands that request those logical blocks (this is true even if cache operation is disabled). Though the prefetch operation uses the buffer as a cache, finding the requested data in the buffer is a prefetch hit, not a cache operation hit.

To enable Prefetch, use Mode Select page 08h, byte 12, bit 5 (Disable Read Ahead - DRA bit). DRA bit = 0 enables prefetch.

Since data that is prefetched replaces data already in some buffer segments, the host can limit the amount of prefetch data to optimize system performance. The Max Prefetch field (bytes 8 and 9) limits the amount of prefetch. The drive does not use the Prefetch Ceiling field (bytes 10 and 11).

When prefetch (read look-ahead) is enabled (enabled by DRA = 0), it operates under the control of ARLA (Adaptive Read Look-Ahead). If the host uses software interleave, ARLA enables prefetch of contiguous blocks from the disc when it senses that a prefetch hit will likely occur, even if two consecutive read operations were not for physically contiguous blocks of data (e.g. “software interleave”). ARLA disables prefetch when it decides that a prefetch hit will not likely occur. If the host is not using software interleave, and if two sequential read operations are not for contiguous blocks of data, ARLA disables prefetch, but as long as sequential read operations request contiguous blocks of data, ARLA keeps prefetch enabled.

4.5.3Optimizing cache performance for desktop and server applications

Desktop and server applications require different drive caching operations for optimal performance. This means it is difficult to provide a single configuration that meets both of these needs. In a desktop environment, you want to configure the cache to respond quickly to repetitive accesses of multiple small segments of data without taking the time to “look ahead” to the next contiguous segments of data. In a server environment, you

14 Cheetah 15K.4 FC Product Manual, Rev. B