System and method for detecting and correcting fragmentation on optical storage media

[0002] Reference is made to the following co-pending and commonly assigned U.S. Patent Applications: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/157,886 entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DATA ERROR RECOVERY, which is hereby incorporated by reference, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,401,229; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/245,471 (issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,266,791) entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SELECTIVELY MOVING DATA TO ALTERNATIVE STORAGE LOCATIONS IN A STORAGE MEDIUM, which is hereby incorporated by reference; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/246,337 (issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,266,677) entitled METHOD TO AUTOMATICALLY AND PERIODICALLY ENSURE THE INTEGRITY OF DATA ON A DATA SOURCE, which is hereby incorporated by reference

[0003] This application relates in general to optical disc storage media and in particular to a mechanism for detecting fragmentation on rewritable optical disc media.

[0004] The files on randomly accessible data storage devices, such as hard drives and rewritable compact discs (CD-RW) become fragmented with use. As files are edited, deleted or added, portions of a file become separated from the remainder of the file. This causes or forms bole locations in the media that are not use& This will slow down system performance because of increased seek times for the system.

[0005] Note that normal compact disc (CD) write operations accelerate fragmentation. The CD disc is large when compared to the user data stored thereon, and the CD media have direct overwrite (DOW) limitations. Thus, the CD device will stagger the placement of data onto the disc. In other words when a file is edited, the older file or portion of the file is not overwritten, but rather the edited portion is written elsewhere on the disc, typically further downstream on the disc. Typical CD write and erase operations move data in a continuous loop from the front of the disc to the back of the disc to write data evenly across the disc. This reduces the wearout of the disc, but increases fragmentation as portions of the file are scatted across the disc.

[0006] In the prior art, programs are available to defragment hard drives or hard disks. A user would install and execute a program which would examine the disk and determine how the files are scattered across it. By copying files from their current location to other portions of the disk, and then filling in holes in the disks, the program is able to compact the files to the front end of the disk. Having all the files compactly located in the front of the disk, rather than scattered throughout the whole disk, decreases access time, and thus increases performance.

[0007] However, the hard drive defragmentation programs are not optimized for optical discs, such as CD-RW or digital versatile discs (DVD) rewrittable discs. Unlike hard drives, optical disc media, such as CD-RW media have very limited number of direct overwrites (DOW). CD-RW media can currently be overwritten about 1000 times before the disc wears out, whereas hard drives can be overwritten millions of times. The hard drive defragmentation programs that write and rewrite data several times to perform one defragmentation of the hard disk if applied to the CD technology would quickly wear out CD-RW discs. Also note that the file structure of a hard drive is different from that of a CD, a CD-RW, a DVD disc, or a DVD rewrittable disc. Furthermore, hard drive programs concentrate the data that is stored in the hard disk to one particular location, namely towards the inner diameter of the disk. Thus, hard drive programs would wear out the inner diameter of a CD disc before the rest of the disc.

[0008] If defragmentation is not performed on a disc, then performance will be degraded. Note that access time is even more critical for CDs than for hard drives. The access time for a typical hard disk is about 5 milliseconds, which is the time required for the head to swing halfway across the disk. The typical access time on CD-RW media is on the order of 150 milliseconds. The slower the device, the greater impact fragmentation has on performance, i.e. a 10% increase in access time on a CD is more pronounced than a 10% increase for a hard disk. Thus, defragmenting the CD disc would greatly improve system performance.

[0009] Another problem is that users do not know when to run the defragmentation programs on the hard disk. Users may not even be aware of defragmentation programs. Thus, users either run the program too frequently or too infrequently. If the user runs the program too frequently on hard drives, then this will have little effect on the hard drive because of the extremely high DOW. On the other hand, if this technology is applied to CDs, then a user rig the program too frequently will quickly wear out the CD disc. If the users run the program too infrequently on hard drives, then this will have a small effect on the performance of the hard drive because of the fast access times. On the other hand, if this technology is applied to CDs, then a user running the program too infrequently will suffer a large performance degradation because of the slow access time. The prior art does not automatically inform users of when to run defragmentation programs.

[0010] Thus, the prior art hard drive defragmentation programs are insufficient for use with optical disc technology, such as CD technology. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a defragmentation program that will automatically perform defragmentation when appropriate, which balances the DOW limitations with the performance gains yielded from defragmentation.

[0011] These and other objects, features and technical advantages are achieved by a system and method which implements a defragmentation utility on an optical disc, such as a CD-RW disc, a DVD rewrittable disc, or the like. Processing according to embodiments of the present invention is automatically invoked, and begins to examine the CD disc upon its insertion. This is preferably done in the background when no other user requested actions are pending. In the preferred embodiment, the examination will be interrupted if a user action is requested and then continue when the user action is complete, so the user will not experience any performance degradation. Processing according to embodiments of the present invention then determines the amount of fragmentation that the CD-RW disc has incurred through its use. This is determined by comparing an ideal data transfer time with a calculated amount of data transfer time. Transfer time depends on the amount of fragmentation (which effects access time) and the size of the file. If the amount of fragmentation exceeds a predetermined limit, then the disc is defragmented. In the preferred embodiment, the predetermined limit is a performance increase of greater than 25%, after defragmentation, for data retrieval times of greater than or equal to 10 seconds; a performance increase of greater than 10%, after defragmentation, for data retrieval times of greater than 1 second and less than 10 seconds. For data retrieval times of 1 second or less, preferably no defragmentation is performed.

[0012] The threshold limit represents a balance between CD performance and DOW requirements. During defragmentation, data from the CD disc is collected and stored on another storage medium, e.g. a hard disk. By using a storage medium separate from the CD disc for temporary storage, additional writes to the disc ate avoided. The data is then reorganized and written back to the CD disc.

[0013] Therefore, it is a technical advantage of the present invention to defragment optical discs, which improves performance of systems using optical discs.

[0014] It is another technical advantage of the present invention that the determination to defragment an optical disc, such as a CD-RW disc, balances the performance gains and DOW limitations.

[0015] It is a further technical advantage of the present invention that another storage media is used for temporary storage of data during defragmentation, which reduces the number of writes to the CD-RW disc.

[0016] It is a further technical advantage of the present invention that processing according to embodiments of the present invention operates in the background and is transparent to a user, thereby not interfering with the normal use of the CD-RW device.

[0017] It is a further technical advantage of the present invention that processing according to embodiments of the present invention automatically determines and performs defragmentation, thereby balancing performance and DOW.

[0018] The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and the specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

[0019] For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0020] FIG. 1 depicts a flow chart of initiation of defragmentation according to embodiments of the present invention;

[0021] FIG. 2 depicts a flow chart of the defragmentation operation of FIG. 1; and

[0022] FIG. 3 depicts a high level block diagram of a computer system adapted to implement the present invention.

[0023] FIG. 1 depicts a flow chart 10 that depicts processing according to embodiments of the present invention. After a disc is inserted in an optical disc drive, such as a CD drive, and a predetermined amount of time of non use of the optical disc drive, flow chart 10 automatically begins to examine the CD-RW disc as depicted by box 11. Thus, the user does not have to invoke processing according to embodiments of the present invention and the operation of processing according to embodiments of the present invention is transparent to the user. Consequently, novice users that are unaware of defragmentation processing in general, will realize the increased performance aspects of defragmentation. Processing according to embodiments of the present invention operates in the background of computer operations, and thus processing according to embodiments of the present invention operates without the intervention or the knowledge of the user. Note that CD operations have precedence over processing according to embodiments of the present invention, and thus processing according to embodiments of the present invention will slow or halt defragmentation operations when the CD disc is being used by either the user or the computer system by entering into hold state. Processing according to embodiments of the present invention can enter the hold state from any point in the processing, and exit hold time after a predetermined amount of time of non use.

[0024] Program logic according to embodiments of the present invention can be stored on the CD-RW disc itself. A reference to the program logic is placed in the autorun file, and thus, when the CD is loaded into the computer system, the program is invoked. Alternatively, the program logic can be stored in a computer system, and would be loaded upon system start up. The program logic would then begin to check the CD discs and defragment the disc as needed as they are loaded into the system.

[0025] Flow chart 10 then determines the amount of fragmentation that the CD-RW disc has incurred, as shown by box 12. The preferred measurement is the amount of deterioration of performance of file transfers. Processing according to embodiments of the present invention would know the ideal performance of a file transfer of the CD-RW device from hardware characteristics such as access time and/or data transfer rates. Such information can be measured by the system. Thus, processing according to embodiments of the present invention can determine an ideal amount of time to read a particular block of data by dividing the block size by the maximum data transfer rate and adding seek time and rotational delay. An amount of performance degradation can be determined by comparing the calculated actual time to the calculated ideal time. For example, a block of data that should ideally take 100 milliseconds to transfer may take 300 milliseconds to transfer because the data is spread across the entire CD disc. Thus, performance has degraded to 33% for is block.

[0026] The following four items affect file transfer time: 1) Access time; 2) Rotational delay—(the head is on the right track but needs to wait for the disc to rotate the file under the head); 3) Spin-up/down of the disc (with Constant Linear Velocity (CLV) if the head is on an inner track and seeks to an outer track the disc has to slow down to match the CLV and vice versa); and 4) File size. Note that data transfer rate is fastest on the outer tracks when a Constant Angular Velocity (CAV) is used. Both CLV and CAV are now used in CD technology. Items 1, 2 and 3 imply that large files should be stored at the outer tracks because the total transfer time will be the sum of 1, 2 and 3 plus the data fate times the size of the file. On large files the sum of access time, rotational delay and spin-up/down of the disc will be small compared to data rate times the file size. Item 3 also implies that large files should be on the outer tracks because'of the higher data rate when CAV is used.

[0027] The transfer time calculation can be made for the entire user data stored on the disc. Note non-user data such as a sparing table is not included in the calculation. Specifically, the size of all of user inputted data on the disc would be divided by the maximum data transfer rate, which would yield the ideal time. Processing according to embodiments of the present invention could determine the actual time of transfer by actually transferring the data off disc. The data would be transferred to a portion of memory, which is overwritten by subsequent transfers. By actually transferring data, an accurate transfer time can be calculated. However, this consumes system resources, and requires much time to complete. Alternatively, processing according to embodiments of the present invention may calculate an estimated transfer time, by reading the directory and noting the locations of the different portions of each file on the disc. Thus, an estimate for transferring each file can be determined. The total of the estimates for all files would represent a total estimated time for transferring the files from the disc. This value is not as accurate as the actual value, but is less costly in terms of system resources and time for completion.

[0028] In the preferred embodiment, flow chart 10 makes the determination 12 based upon all of the data stored on the CD disc. Thus, fragmentation of particular blocks or files will not cause processing according to embodiments of the present invention to defragment the CD disc, unless the fragmentation is severe enough and the size of the data is large enough to reduce the performance of the CD disc below a predetermined threshold, such as the thresholds shown in the above table. Alternatively, processing according to embodiments of the present invention may incorporate an algorithm which measures the fragmentation of the most used files or blocks. Thus, system performance would be improved if the most used files or blocks were defragmented For example, files or blocks that are repeatedly accessed and are fragmented such that performance is degraded below a predetermined threshold when accessing these files would cause the defragmentation of the CD disc. Another algorithm could be used that measures fragmentation based upon the most recently used files or blocks. For example, processing according to embodiments of the present invention would defragment the disc if a preselected number of previously accessed files or blocks were fragmented such that performance is degraded below a predetermined threshold.

[0029] The calculated amount of fragmentation, either actual or estimated, is compared against a predetermined threshold amount, as shown in box 13 in FIG. 1. In the preferred embodiment, the predetermined limit is a performance increase of greater than 25%, after defragmentation, for data retrieval times of greater than or equal to 10 seconds; a performance increase of greater than 10%, after defragmentation, for data retrieval times of greater than 1 second and less than 10 seconds. Thus, for retrieval times greater than or equal to 10 seconds, if there would be a greater than 25% reduction in retrieval time after defragmentation, then the CD will be defragmented by processing according to embodiments of the present invention. Similarly, for retrieval times greater than 1 second and less than 10 seconds, if there would be a greater than 10% reduction in retrieval time after defragmentation, then the CD will be defragmented by processing according to embodiments of the present invention. These thresholds represent a balance between CD performance and DOW requirements.

[0030] After ascertaining that the amount of fragmentation exceeds a predetermined limit in step 13, processing according to embodiments of the present invention will defragment the CD disc as shown in step 14. Processing according to embodiments of the present invention reads the data for each file or block, which is scattered across the CD disc, and stores the data onto a secondary storage medium, such as a hard drive. After each file or block is reorganized into a cohesive, contiguous data block in the secondary storage medium, it is written back onto the CD disc. Small files are written towards the inner diameter of the disc and large files are written towards the outer diameter of the disc. By using a storage medium separate from the CD disc for temporary storage, additional writes to the CD disc are avoided. This aspect is important because of the DOW limitations of CD media.

[0031] As shown in FIG. 2, processing according to embodiments of the present invention begins defragmentation by copying a segment of data to a second storage medium such as a hard drive to clear space for the writes to the CD disc in step 21. After write space has been made, processing according to embodiments of the present invention collects the data for each file and stores the data on the hard disk drive in step 22. The data is then reorganized back into a cohesive, contiguous data file in step 23. The reorganization can be performed simultaneous with or subsequent to the data collection. The reorganized data is then written back to the CD disc in step 24. If the user (or the system) should cancel the defragmentation (deterred in step 25), processing according to embodiments of the present invention will continue to operate until the data is written back to the CD disc before ending the defragmentation as shown in step 27 or ejecting the disc. Otherwise, defragmentation will continue until the defragmentation process is completed as determined in step 26. Note that defragmentation can occur on a block by block basis, wherein each block comprises many files. However, to allow for a quick cancellation, the block should be no larger than can be transferred back to the disc without undue delay. Note that cancellation by the user does not have to involve active participation by the user, but rather could occur as a consequence from some other user activity, e.g the user writes a new file to the disc, the user signs off of the computer or ejects the CD disc.

[0032] Processing according to embodiments of the present invention may defragment only a portion of the disc. Thus, if a particular file or block of data is re-written repeatedly, and is fragmented such that performance is degraded below a predetermined threshold when accessing this data, then this file or block could be defragmented. Note that a CD can hold a large amount of data, and may have large amounts of unused space. Thus, when data for a file or block is fragmented, processing according to embodiments of the present invention will collect the data from the various locations on the disc, store it on the hard drive, and write the collection onto a new location on the CD disc, without having to move or otherwise rewrite other data on the disc. Thus, system performance can be improved without having to defragment the entire disc.

[0033] Note that other temporary storage mediums could be used, for example floppy disc or non-volatile memory, e.g. electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM). Volatile memory such as random access memory RAM could be used if the data is not directly overwritten, i.e. the data is written back to a different portion of the disc. In such a case, lost data in RAM (because of loss of power) can be retrieved from the disc.

[0034] If desired, the user could be informed of the completion or cancellation of defragmentation in step 16 of FIG. 1. Note that this is optional, as user participation is not necessary. Also, optionally the user could be informed as to the estimated improvement in performance.

[0035] After completion or cancellation of a defragmentation operation, processing according to embodiments of the present invention determines whether to restart operations on the disc in step 17. The processing may be set to continuously monitor the fragmentation on the disc, and thus proceed directly to determining the amount of fragmentation in step 12. However, once the disc has been defragmented, the disc is not likely to become fragmented very quickly. Thus, processing according to embodiments of the present invention may utilize a dining criteria which indicates when monitoring should resume. For example, such criteria may be the number of times the disc has been accessed since defragmentation, or a length of time since defragmentation or a combination of both. When the criteria indicates that monitoring should resume, then processing according to embodiments of the present invention begins the fragmentation determination in step 12, otherwise, the processing is placed into a wait state in step 15. Other performance criteria could be used to determine when to check for fragmentation.

[0036] Although this description has discussed defragmentation with regard to a CD disc, this invention is also operative for any media that has DOW limitations and accumulates fragmentation in its use, for example DVD media in +RW, −RW, and RAM formats. Also the automated defragmentation feature makes it useful for devices with high DOW, but other defragmentation criteria could be used.

[0037] FIG. 3 illustrates a computer system 30 in which the present invention may be implemented. Central processing unit (CPU) 31 is coupled to bus 32. In addition, bus 32 is coupled to random access memory (RAM) 33, read only memory (ROM) 34, input/output (I/O) adapter 35, communications adapter 42, user interface adapter 39, and display adapter 40.

[0038] RAM 33 and ROM 34 hold user and system data and programs, as is well known in the ant. I/O adapter 35 connects I/O devices, such as hard drive 36 and CD drive 37, to the computer system. The adapter 35 would also connect other 110 devices, such as a local printer to the system. Communications adapter 42 is adapted to couple the computer system to a local, wide-area, or Internet network 43. User interface adapter 39 couples user input devices, such as keyboard 34 and pointing device 38, to the computer system 30. Finally, display adapter 40 is driven by CPU 31 to control the display on display device 41. Note that CPU 31 may be any general purpose CPU, such as any processor referred as a PENTIUM® processor available from the INTEL Corporation. However, the present invention is not restricted by the architecture of CPU 31 as long as CPU 31 supports the inventive operations as described herein.

[0039] Although the present invention and its advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification. As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosure of the present invention, processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be developed that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present invention. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.