System and method for controlling cache memories, computer system, hard disk drive unit, and hard disk control unit

摘要

A system and method are provided that reduce the amount of data held commonly in both high-ranking and low-ranking cache memories, thereby having each of those cache memories hold data more efficiently. More particularly, a computer system is provided with an HDC card 21 connected to an expansion bus 20 and an HDD unit 22 connected to the HDC card 21. The HDC card 21 is provided with a disk cache (high-ranking cache memory) and the HDD unit 22 is provided with a disk cache 54 (low-ranking cache memory). The HDC card 21 and the HDD unit 22 exchange select information for selecting a swap mode of each cache memory when the system is started up, thereby selecting different swap modes according to the exchanged select information respectively.