JPH1139230A - Diagnostic method and recording medium for floppy disk device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To diagnose a floppy disk device using a diagnostic program, it is necessary to prepare a diagnostic test medium for writing / reading separately from a diagnostic system medium. As a solution to this, a method of excluding the test area from the file management of the diagnostic system by setting the file management area of the diagnostic system medium to unusable in advance, and enabling the diagnostic system medium and the test medium to be shared. There is. However, in this method, it is necessary to create a diagnostic system medium in consideration of a test area in advance, and there is a problem that it takes time to create a diagnostic system medium. SOLUTION: A diagnostic system medium is conscious of a test area by referring to file management information for managing files and directories of a diagnostic system medium, and setting an unused area of the diagnostic system medium as a test area for diagnosis. It is not necessary to create a test medium, and the diagnostic system medium and the test medium can be shared.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for diagnosing a floppy disk device in a diagnostic system using a floppy disk as a diagnostic system medium,
In particular, by referring to file management information for managing files and directories on the diagnostic system medium, and by setting an unused area of the diagnostic system medium as a test area for diagnosis, the diagnostic system medium and the test medium are shared. .

[0002] In this specification, the term "diagnosis system medium" refers to a medium in which a diagnosis program for specifying the normality or abnormal part of the system is stored.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art In a system in which many modules and external devices are combined mainly by using a computer, a system is used to determine the normality of a system and to identify an abnormal part by using a diagnostic program at the time of system startup or periodic maintenance. I have.

In the case of a system having a floppy disk device as an external storage device, a diagnostic program is stored in a floppy disk, loaded from the floppy disk into a memory of the system, and started to execute a diagnosis. .

Conventionally, when diagnosing a floppy disk drive using a diagnostic program, a diagnostic test medium for writing / reading data had to be prepared separately from a diagnostic system medium.

However, this problem is discussed in "
As described in “3-44371 Floppy Disk Device Diagnosis Method”, the test area is excluded from the file management of the diagnostic system by making the file management area of the diagnostic system medium unusable in advance. And the sharing of test media.

[0007]

However, the above-described method has a problem in that the diagnostic system medium must be created in consideration of the test area in advance, and it takes time to create the diagnostic system medium.

In addition, since the test area is set to an arbitrary but specific location such as the inner circumference, the center, and the outer circumference of the floppy disk, all of the test areas are required for more reliable diagnosis. It is hoped that can be diagnosed.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described problems, and refers to file management information for managing files and directories on a diagnostic system medium. By using the unused area as a test area for diagnosis, the diagnostic system medium and the test medium can be shared.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In a method of diagnosing a floppy disk device in a system having a floppy disk device, file management information for managing files and directories of a diagnostic system medium is referred to, and the used area / unused area of the diagnostic system medium is referred to. By creating a use state management table indicating an area and setting an unused area shown in the use state management table as a test area, there is no need to create a diagnostic system medium in consideration of the test area in advance. A dedicated test medium can be dispensed with.

[0011] Further, by setting the entire unused area indicated by the use state management table as a test area, it is not necessary to create a diagnostic system medium in consideration of the test area in advance.

The unused area indicated in the use state management table is used as a temporary data save area for the test area, the data in the test area is saved in the save area before the diagnosis is executed, and the data in the save area is saved after the diagnosis is executed. Is restored in the test area, it is possible to execute diagnosis on any / all areas of the floppy disk.

[0013]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a diagnostic system medium storing a diagnostic program for confirming the normality of the computer system and specifying an abnormal part; 2, a floppy disk device connected to a computer for loading a diagnostic system or the like;
Is a computer.

The diagnostic program 4 for diagnosing the floppy disk drive loaded from the diagnostic system medium 1 into the memory of the computer 3 uses a use state indicating an used area / unused area with reference to system management information of the diagnostic system medium. It comprises a use state management table setting means 5 for setting a management table, and a diagnosis means 6 for diagnosing a floppy disk device using an unused area.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the use state management table. In the figure, reference numeral 21 denotes a use state management table. The use state management table 21 includes an index number of each data line, a track, a header, and a sector indicating a physical address of a floppy disk, and a record indicating whether the physical address is used or unused. And a flag indicating whether the

FIG. 3 shows a configuration diagram of a diagnostic system medium of a floppy disk. In this example, the diagnostic system medium includes a system management information area indicating a data storage location such as a file and a folder, a data area storing programs and data, and an unused area not used by the system.

Even if this unused area is used as a test area for diagnosis of the floppy disk device and data is written / read, the diagnosis system is not broken. Therefore, there is no need to prepare a test medium for diagnosis in advance.

In this example, the unused areas appear to be grouped together, but there are actually unused areas in the system management information area and the data area. However, since the use state management table 21 of FIG. 2 manages the used / unused area in units of sectors, which is the minimum configuration for storing data on the floppy disk, the unused area is stored as described above. It is possible to manage the used / unused state even if it is discrete for each sector.

FIG. 4 is a transition diagram of each area when an unused area of the diagnostic system medium is used as a save area of the test area.

FIG. 4A is a configuration diagram of a diagnostic system medium before a diagnostic program is executed on a floppy disk device. In this example, the system management information area,
It is divided into three areas: a data area and an unused area.

Then, when the diagnostic program is executed,
First, a diagnosis is performed using an unused area as a test area, and then a system management information area indicated by an arrow A becomes a test area.

However, this test area, that is, the system management information area is an area used in the diagnostic system, and the contents of the system management information area are temporarily saved to an unused area before executing the diagnosis. FIG. 4B is a diagram in which the contents of the system management information area indicated by arrow A are saved to an unused area indicated by arrow B.

Thus, the configuration diagram of the diagnostic system medium includes a test area indicated by an arrow A as shown in FIG.
The data area, the save area of the system management information area, and the unused area.

Then, diagnosis is performed on the test area indicated by arrow A.

When the diagnosis is completed, the contents of the save area in the system management information area indicated by arrow B are restored to the test area indicated by arrow A. FIG. 4D is a diagram in which the contents of the save area of the system management information area indicated by the arrow B are restored to the test area indicated by the arrow A.

Thus, the diagnostic system medium is in a state before the diagnosis is executed.

In this example, since the unused area is larger than the system management information area, the entire system management information area is saved and restored. However, an arbitrary sector is used as a test area, and the area corresponding to that sector is saved and restored. May be.

Similarly, since the data area is also used in the diagnostic system, the diagnosis is executed using the unused area as the save area.

FIG. 5 shows a processing flowchart of an embodiment of the diagnostic program. Hereinafter, the operation will be described according to this flow.

Step S501: With reference to the system management information area of the diagnostic system medium, a use state management table for managing the used area / unused area of the diagnostic system is created.

Step S502: It is determined whether the test area specified by the operator operating the diagnostic system is the entire area. If all regions are designated, the process proceeds to step S506, and if not, the process proceeds to step S503.

Step S503: An unused area is searched from the use state management table.

Step S504: Based on the search result of step S503, a diagnosis is executed using an arbitrary track or an arbitrary sector as a test area.

Step S505: It is determined whether the diagnosis of the unused area has been completed. If all are completed, step S
Proceed to 514. If not all completed, step S5
Return to 03.

Step S506: Search for an unused area from the use state management table.

Step S507: Based on the search result of step S506, a diagnosis is executed using an arbitrary track or an arbitrary sector as a test area.

Step S508: It is determined whether the diagnosis of the unused area has been completed. If all are completed, step S
Proceed to 509. If not all completed, step S5
Return to 06.

Step S509: A use area is searched from the use state management table.

Step S510: Based on the search result of step S509, in order to set an arbitrary track or an arbitrary sector as a test area, data of a used area to be used as a test area is saved to a temporarily unused area.

Step S511: Diagnosis is performed on the test area set in step S510.

Step S512: The data saved in the unused area in step S510 is restored to the used area which has been set as the test area.

Step S513: It is determined whether or not the use area diagnosis has been completed. If all are completed, step S5
Proceed to 14. If not all completed, step S50
Return to 9.

Step S514: The diagnosis result is stored in the test result area. Then, the process ends.

[0044]

The present invention is embodied in the form described above, and has the following effects.

The test area is set in advance in the diagnostic system medium by referring to the file management information for managing the files and directories of the diagnostic system medium and setting the unused area of the diagnostic system medium as a test area for diagnosis. Such a work becomes unnecessary, and the diagnostic system medium can be easily created. Further, the diagnostic system medium and the test medium can be shared.

The unused area of the diagnostic system medium is
Used as a work area for diagnosis, the data in the used area is temporarily copied to the work area, and after the diagnosis of the used area is completed, the data copied to the work area is stored again in the used area, thereby diagnosing the entire area of the floppy disk. This makes it possible to diagnose the floppy disk with higher reliability.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of a use state management table.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a diagnostic system medium of a floppy disk.

FIG. 4 is a transition diagram of each area when an unused area of the diagnostic system medium is set as a save area of a test area.

FIG. 5 is a processing flowchart of an embodiment of a diagnostic program.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Diagnostic program 5 Usage status management table setting means 6 Diagnostic means

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI G11B 20/18 572 G11B 20/18 572B 572F

Claims (4)

[Claims] In a method of diagnosing a floppy disk device in a system having a floppy disk device, a use area / unused area of the diagnostic system medium is referred to by referring to file management information for managing files and directories of the diagnostic system medium. A method of diagnosing a floppy disk device, which creates a use state management table shown in the table, and diagnoses the floppy disk device using the unused area shown in the use state management table. 2. The method for diagnosing a floppy disk device according to claim 1, wherein the diagnosis of the floppy disk device is performed using the entire unused area indicated by the use state management table as a test area. 3. The unused area indicated in the use state management table is used as a temporary data save area of the test area, the data of the test area is saved in the save area before the execution of the diagnosis, and the data in the save area is executed after the execution of the diagnosis. 2. The method for diagnosing a floppy disk device according to claim 1, wherein the step of restoring the floppy disk device to the test region includes diagnosing the floppy disk device using any / all regions of the floppy disk as the test region. 4. In a recording medium for recording a program for diagnosing a floppy disk device in a system having a floppy disk device, a computer refers to file management information for managing files and directories of a diagnostic system medium, and performs diagnosis. A computer readable program that creates a use state management table indicating the used area / unused area of the system medium and records a program for diagnosing a floppy disk drive using the unused area indicated in the use state management table recoding media.