Direct-Mapped Flash Storage Parallel Write Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional storage systems are inefficient in accessing and managing block addresses in flash storage, leading to suboptimal data reads, writes, and erasures due to reliance on address translation and inefficient use of storage space.
Innovation Solution
A direct-mapped flash storage system where a controller maintains a list of allocation units across multiple flash devices, allowing direct access and management of erase blocks, enabling parallel writing and reducing firmware overhead by offloading operations from a single drive controller to multiple drive controllers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If address translation is used in traditional flash storage systems, then data management is simplified, but access efficiency and write performance deteriorate due to firmware overhead and unnecessary write operations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the address translation function from the flash drive firmware to the host system. The host controller directly manages block addresses and performs address translation, eliminating the firmware overhead that previously bottlenecked write operations. This allows the flash drive to operate with simpler, more efficient direct block access.
Solution Approach 2:
The host controller acts as an intermediary between the host system and the flash storage devices. It directly manages block addresses and coordinates write operations across multiple flash drives, eliminating the need for each drive's firmware to perform address translation. This mediator approach consolidates the translation function and improves overall system efficiency.
2Device complexity
If a single controller manages multiple flash devices, then centralized control is achieved, but performance deteriorates due to the bottleneck in managing all operations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the control function by allowing each flash drive to have its own controller that independently manages its block addresses. Multiple controllers operate in parallel to handle write operations simultaneously, eliminating the single-controller bottleneck. The host system coordinates these distributed controllers, achieving both simplicity and high throughput.
3Adaptability or versatility
If erase blocks are not directly addressable, then storage space flexibility is improved, but access time deteriorates due to the need for address translation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the address translation function from the flash drive firmware to the host system. The host controller directly manages block addresses and performs address translation, eliminating the firmware overhead that previously bottlenecked write operations. This allows the flash drive to operate with simpler, more efficient direct block access.
Data Source
AI summary
In one implementation, a method includes maintaining a list of available erase block portions across a plurality of flash devices of a flash storage system, and wherein erase blocks are categorized by the flash storage system as available for use, in use, or unusable. The method further includes receiving data from a plurality of sources, wherein the data is associated with processing a dataset, the dataset comprising multiple file systems and associated metadata. The method further includes determining a plurality of subsets of the data such that each subset is capable of being written in parallel with the remaining subsets, mapping each subset of the plurality of subsets to an available allocation unit, and writing the plurality of subsets in parallel.