Seagate ST3146356SS, ST3300656SS, ST3450856SS Deferred Auto-Reallocation, Idle Read After Write

7.6Deferred Auto-Reallocation

Deferred Auto-Reallocation (DAR) simplifies reallocation algorithms at the system level by allowing the drive to reallocate unreadable locations on a subsequent write command. Sites are marked for DAR during read oper- ations performed by the drive. When a write command is received for an LBA marked for DAR, the auto-reallo- cation process is invoked and attempts to rewrite the data to the original location. If a verification of this rewrite fails, the sector is re-mapped to a spare location.

This is in contrast to the system having to use the Reassign Command to reassign a location that was unread- able and then generate a write command to rewrite the data. DAR is most effective when AWRE and ARRE are enabled—this is the default setting from the Seagate factory. With AWRE and ARRE disabled DAR is unable to reallocate the failing location and will report an error sense code indicating that a write command is being attempted to a previously failing location.

7.7Idle Read After Write

Idle Read After Write (IRAW) utilizes idle time to verify the integrity of recently written data. During idle periods, no active system requests, the drive reads recently written data from the media and compares it to valid write command data resident in the drives data buffer. Any sectors that fail the comparison result in the invocation of a rewrite and auto-reallocation process. The process attempts to rewrite the data to the original location. If a verification of this rewrite fails, the sector is re-mapped to a spare location.

42 Cheetah 15K.6 SAS Product Manual, Rev. A