Reliable Flash File System

Whitepaper: Data Integrity in Flash

Nearly any competent engineer can plug in flash memory and make it work, but a well-designed embedded system also ensures data reliability. Flash is ideal for storing data in a mobile environment, however maintaining data integrity requires careful planning on the part of the designer. Reliable data storage on flash is not a simple matter of plug-and-play. Power interruptions and other hazards of embedded life wreak havoc with users’ data, often rendering it useless or inaccessible. As explained in this paper, the importance of a professional flash file system – the combination of a flash manager and embedded file system – cannot be underestimated.  

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Reliable File System Helps InHand Preserve a Reputation for Reliability

The Challenge –Flash Memory Corruption

As the leading provider of low-power embedded systems to medical, military, aerospace and industrial manufacturers, InHand’s customers rely on their reputation for highly reliable, robust and ruggedized embedded systems to produce battery-operated, hand-held wireless devices such as UMPCs, PDAs, wearable computers, industrial computers and smart sensors. Recently a key customer of InHand began experiencing data corruption related to the flash driver on their well-known Fingertip modules. The unusual flash configuration required by the project was not compatible with the default flash driver. Despite several attempted work-arounds by InHand engineers, the customer’s data corruption issues persisted.

The Datalight Solution –Bad Block Management

After trying several different options to fix the problem, the InHand engineering team discovered Datalight FlashFX® Pro, an intelligent flash media manager designed to handle the complexities associated with NOR and especially NAND flash. FlashFX Pro solves many of the inherent issues common to flash with features like a sophisticated bad-block management process and advanced wear-leveling algorithms. It has also been shown to improve overall data throughput. Fast, efficient integration comes standard with drop-in support for over 300 well-known flash parts, allowing the InHand engineering team to integrate the FlashFX Pro solution quickly. In fact, they had the customer up and running within a matter of days.

The Customer Payoff –Flash Corruption Solved and Cost Savings

Immediately following implementation of FlashFX Pro on the customer’s project, the customer’s data corruption issues stopped. Further analysis by InHand revealed that using the Datalight solution is more cost-effective than spending in-house development time whenever a new flash part is used and frees up resources for product improvement. After careful consideration, InHand made the decision to include FlashFX Pro on their entire line of Fingertip4 and Fingertip5 products. “Using Datalight’s drivers enabled our team to focus on optimizing other parts of the system while still providing our customer with highly reliable flash storage,” said Dr. Dave Stewart, a nationally recognized embedded systems expert and Director of Software Engineering for InHand. “The inclusion of Datalight’s FlashFX helps us continue our reputation for producing highly reliable, robust and ruggedized embedded systems. Our customers gain worry-free flash data storage on our Fingertip family of products due to the increased reliability of the FlashFX drivers over our previous solution.”

Datalight Products to Improve Reliability on Flash

Flash Memory Drivers

FlashFX Tera is a flash management solution that frees developers from the volatility and constraints of single-source flash memory software. Versatility allows fast integration with over 300 flash chip part numbers. Dynamic chip select provides run-time flexibility of using just one driver image, saving money and lowering supply-line risks during production.  Pre-written support includes SLC and MLC NAND and NOR parts from top manufacturers (Intel, Micron, Samsung, Toshiba, Numonyx and Spansion), fusion flash (such as Samsung OneNAND, FlexOneNAND or Spansion OrNAND), and application processor flash controllers (like Freescale MX and Texas Instruments OMAP). Our high performance, multi-threaded flash drivers provide superior wear-leveling, bad block management, garbage collection and fast read/write speeds.

File Systems

Designed to meet the responsiveness needs of devices storing large numbers of files, Reliance Nitro high performance file system improves the speed of file and directory access by several orders of magnitude, while continuing to deliver the rock-solid reliability of its Reliance heritage. The unique combination of tree-based directory architecture, extent based design, and faster atomic transactions, gives a performance benefit for I/O throughput and metadata operations. Dynamic Transaction Point™ technology, found in all Reliance products, gives developers unprecedented control over file system operations. Reliance Nitro is optimized for use on consumer electronics and industrial devices like smartphones, navigation devices, and handheld scanners that cannot compromise reliability or performance to deliver a compelling user experience.

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