A system includes a read/write module and a caching module. The read/write module is configured to access a first portion of a recording surface of a rotating storage device. Data is stored on the first portion of the recording surface of the rotating storage device at a first density. The caching module is configured to cache data on a second portion of the recording surface of the rotating storage device at a second density. The second portion of the recording surface of the rotating storage device is separate from the first portion of the recording surface of the rotating storage device. The second density is less than the first density.

A system and method for improving the management of data input and output (I/O) operations for Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) devices in a network storage system is disclosed. The storage system includes a storage controller that receives a series of write requests for data blocks to be written to non-sequential addresses within a pool of SMR devices. The storage controller writes the data blocks from the series of write requests to a corresponding sequence of data clusters allocated within a first data cache of the storage controller for a thinly provisioned volume of the pool of SMR devices. Upon determining that a current utilization of the first data cache's data storage capacity exceeds a threshold, the sequence of data clusters including the data blocks from the first data cache are transferred to sequential physical addresses within the SMR devices.

A system includes a read/write module and a caching module. The read/write module is configured to access a first portion of a recording surface of a rotating storage device. Data is stored on the first portion of the recording surface of the rotating storage device at a first density. The caching module is configured to cache data on a second portion of the recording surface of the rotating storage device at a second density. The second portion of the recording surface of the rotating storage device is separate from the first portion of the recording surface of the rotating storage device. The second density is less than the first density.

Embodiments are disclosed for providing play/pause content. An example method includes receiving a command to play audio from a zone, the zone including one or more playback devices, wherein the zone is configured to play items from a playback queue responsive to the command to play audio. The example method also includes determining that the playback queue includes no playable items. The example method also includes automatically placing information identifying at least one playable item in the playback queue. The example method also includes, responsive to the command to play audio, causing to play the at least one playable item by the zone.

Embodiments are disclosed for providing play/pause content. An example method includes receiving a command to play audio from a zone, the zone including one or more playback devices, wherein the zone is configured to play items from a playback queue responsive to the command to play audio. The example method also includes determining that the playback queue includes no playable items. The example method also includes automatically placing information identifying at least one playable item in the playback queue. The example method also includes, responsive to the command to play audio, causing to play the at least one playable item by the zone.

Embodiments are disclosed for providing play/pause content. An example method includes receiving a command to play audio from a zone, the zone including one or more playback devices, wherein the zone is configured to play items from a playback queue responsive to the command to play audio. The example method also includes determining that the playback queue includes no playable items. The example method also includes automatically placing information identifying at least one playable item in the playback queue. The example method also includes, responsive to the command to play audio, causing to play the at least one playable item by the zone.

A data storage device is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk, a first semiconductor memory (SM) having a first endurance, and a second SM having a second endurance lower than the first endurance. A write command is received from a host including write data. When a size of the write command is less than a threshold, the write data is stored in a first SM write cache in the first SM, and when the size of the write command is greater than the threshold, the write data is stored in a second SM write cache in the second SM.

The disclosed technology provides a method that improves CCT in SMR device systems. In one implementation, the method comprises writing data to a shingled magnetic recording (SMR) band in a storage device, determining whether an off-track write has occurred, identifying unsafe written data in response to determining that an off-track write has occurred, determining whether caching space is available upon identifying unsafe written data, continue writing data to the SMR band without a write retry upon determining that caching space is available, and writing unsafe written data to the available caching space. In another implementation, the method comprises receiving a request to repair an encroached track in an SMR band, recovering encroached data to a dynamic random-access memory, determining whether caching space is available, writing the recovered data to the available caching space upon determining that caching space is available, and merging other cached data in the SMR band.

Embodiments are disclosed for providing play/pause content. An example method includes receiving a command to play audio from a zone, the zone including one or more playback devices, wherein the zone is configured to play items from a playback queue responsive to the command to play audio. The example method also includes determining that the playback queue includes no playable items. The example method also includes automatically placing information identifying at least one playable item in the playback queue. The example method also includes, responsive to the command to play audio, causing to play the at least one playable item by the zone.

A system includes a read/write module and a caching module. The read/write module is configured to access a first portion of a recording surface of a rotating storage device. Data is stored on the first portion of the recording surface of the rotating storage device at a first density. The caching module is configured to cache data on a second portion of the recording surface of the rotating storage device at a second density. The second portion of the recording surface of the rotating storage device is separate from the first portion of the recording surface of the rotating storage device. The second density is less than the first density.