Unified Block Container Storage for Flash Drives
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional storage systems face inefficiencies in data management and storage operations, particularly in handling flash drives without integrated controllers, leading to unnecessary write operations and reduced reliability.
Innovation Solution
A direct-mapped flash storage system where the operating system initiates and controls processes, such as data allocation and garbage collection, across multiple flash drives without involving lower-level storage controllers, utilizing non-volatile memory express (NVMe) for fast data access and erasure coding for redundancy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional storage controllers manage flash drives, then data management is centralized and simplified, but redundant write operations increase and reliability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the storage controller functionality from the flash drive hardware and relocates it to the operating system. The OS now directly manages flash drives without intermediate controllers, eliminating redundant write operations and improving both reliability and write efficiency through direct OS control of allocation and garbage collection processes.
2Device complexity
If storage controllers are integrated into flash drives, then device autonomy is improved, but system complexity and redundant operations increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the storage controller functionality with the operating system, consolidating control functions into a single centralized management layer. This integration eliminates the need for separate hardware controllers on each flash drive, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining ease of operation through unified OS-level management of all storage devices.
3Quantity of substance
If multiple flash drives are used for storage, then storage capacity and redundancy are improved, but data management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal OS-level storage management system that handles multiple flash drives through a single standardized interface. The operating system provides multi-functional capabilities including unified data allocation, cross-drive garbage collection, and erasure coding across all connected flash drives, allowing the system to scale capacity without increasing management complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
An illustrative unified data storage method includes providing, by a data storage system, block containers that represent a linear address space of blocks; and using, by the data storage system, the block containers to store content for a plurality of different data storage services. In certain examples, the different data storage services include at least one of a file storage service, an object storage service, or a database service.