Western Digital Technologies, Inc.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.v.

Hgst Netherlands, B.v.

Frank R Chu

Qingbo Wang

Zvonimir Z Bandic

Dejan Vucinic

Cyril Guyot

Robert Eugeniu Mateescu

Spencer W Ng

Richard M H New

Marco Sanvido

Motoyasu Tsunoda

Steven Robert Hetzler

Luiz M Franca-Neto

Minghai Qin

Anand Kulkarni

Chao Sun

Donald Joseph Molaro

Timothy Tsai

Jorge Campello De Souza

Adam Manzanares

George Anthony Dunn

Damien Cyril Daniel Le Moal

Chunqi Han

A method and a storage system are provided for implementing enhanced solid state storage class memory (eSCM) including a direct attached dual in line memory (DIMM) card containing Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), and at least one 5 non-volatile memory, for example, Phase Change Memory (PCM), Resistive RAM (ReRAM), Spin-Transfer-Torque RAM (STT-RAM), and NAND Flash chips. An eSCM processor controls selectively allocating data among the DRAM, and the at least one non-volatile memory primarily based upon a data set size.

Apparatus and method for low power low latency high capacity storage class memory

A device having a controller configured to interface with a host, a storage class memory configured to interface with the controller and a flash memory configured to interface with the controller, wherein both the storage class memory and the flash memory are configured to store data, and wherein the controller is configured to separate the data according to latency critical data and non-latency critical data.

Quality of service aware storage class memory/NAND flash hybrid solid state drive

Techniques for providing file system functionality over a PCIe interface are disclosed. In some embodiments, the techniques may be realized as a method for providing file system functionality over a PCIe interface including receiving from a host device a storage command, specially devised for such a standard protocol, at a PCIe-based device controller, parsing, using at least one computer processor of the PCIe-based device controller, the storage command, traversing, using PCIe-based device controller, one or more portions of file system metadata of an associated storage media device, wherein the PCIe-based device controller is configured to traverse the one or more portions of file system metadata based on the parsed storage command independent of any subsequent communication with the host device, and returning data to the host device.

System and method to provide file system functionality over a PCIe interface

The present disclosure relates to methods and systems for performing operations in a communications protocol. An example method can include submitting, from a device, a request for a queue entry representing a command from a host comprising a request for data stored at a device memory location; receiving the command from the host; and executing the command. An example method can also include selecting a bit string representing whether a requested data stream has been received, and storing the bit string into a memory buffer portion to mark the buffer portion. The method can include receiving, into the memory buffer, the stream. The method can include retrieving contents of the buffer portion, and determining whether the contents contain the bit string. If so, the method can include determining that portions of the stream have not been received. Otherwise, the method can include determining that the stream has been received.

Doorbell-less protocol for solid state drive interface

The present disclosure relates to methods, apparatuses, systems, and computer program products for processing commands for accessing solid state drives. Example methods can include receiving, from a host, a loaded command availability message. The loaded command availability message can indicate that a command associated with the loaded command availability message uses a low latency mode. The methods can further include executing the associated command.

Latency command processing for solid state drive interface protocol

ACK-less protocol for noticing completion of read requests

Doorbell-less endpoint-initiated protocol for storage devices

A method for implementing data storage and a dual port, dual element storage device are provided. A storage device includes a predefined form factor including a first port and a second port, and a first storage element and a second storage element. A controller coupled between the first port and second port, and the first storage element and second storage element controls access and provides two separate data paths to the first storage element and second storage element.

Implementing data storage and dual port, dual-element storage device

A disk drive that includes nonvolatile memory monitors the drive's reliability-related parameters to detect real or potential failure events, and records failure-related data in nonvolatile memory, rather than in reserved areas of the disks. The monitoring may be by running a diagnostic routine or by regular or periodic monitoring of disk drive sensors, like temperature and shock sensors. The failure events to be monitored and recorded may include defective data sectors. When a new defective sector is detected after the disk drive has been put into operation, that defective sector is taken out of service and its logical block address (LBA) is mapped to a memory space in the nonvolatile memory rather to a reserved spare sector on the disk. When a read or write command is received for an LBA range that includes the defective sector's LBA, the defective sector is skipped while the whole LBA range of the command is processed and the user data for the defective sector's LBA is read from or written to the mapped memory space in the nonvolatile memory.

Disk drive with nonvolatile memory for storage of failure-related data

The invention is a storage device which implements a write barrier command and provides means for a host to designate other write commands as being sensitive or insensitive to the existence of write barrier commands. The device can optimize the execution of commands by changing the order of execution of write commands that are insensitive to write barrier command. In an embodiment of the invention a flag associated with the write command indicates whether the command is sensitive or insensitive to the existence of write barrier commands. In an embodiment of the invention the write barrier command can be implemented as a write command with a flag that indicates whether the command is a write barrier command. In one embodiment of the invention the queue of commands and data to be written to the media is stored in a non-volatile cache.

Storage device with write barrier sensitive write commands and write barrier insensitive commands

A hybrid disk drive, i.e., a disk drive with two types of permanent storage media (conventional disk media and nonvolatile memory, such as flash memory), uses its nonvolatile memory in operational modes other than the power-save or 'standby' mode wherein the disks are spun down. In a first additional mode, called a 'performance' mode, one or more blocks of write data are destaged from volatile memory (the disk drive's write cache) and written to the disk and simultaneously one or more data blocks of write data are destaged from the volatile memory and written to the nonvolatile memory. In a second additional mode, called a &#x201c;harsh-environment&#x201d; mode, the disk drive includes one or more environmental sensors, such as temperature and humidity sensors, and the nonvolatile memory temporarily replaces the disks as the permanent storage media. In a third additional mode, called a &#x201c;write-inhibit&#x201d; mode, the disk drive includes one or more write-inhibit detectors, such as a shock sensor for detecting disturbances and vibrations to the disk drive. In write-inhibit mode, if the write-inhibit signal is on then the write data is written from the volatile memory to the nonvolatile memory instead of to the disks.

Disk drive with nonvolatile memory having multiple modes of operation

A data stream received by a hard disk drive (HDD) is organized into at least one cluster having data blocks and spare data blocks and that is equal in size to an integer multiple of the number of sectors in a track of a disk of the HDD. A variable-index writing technique is used to write each data block of a cluster to a corresponding sector of a track that is encountered by a head when the sector is not defective. A sector of the track is skipped during writing when the sector is defective. The number of spare data blocks in a portion of a cluster corresponding to a single track is reduced by the number of sectors that are skipped in the track so that the number of data blocks plus the number of remaining spare data blocks equals the number of sectors in a track.

Growing community of inventors

Milpitas, CA, United States of America

Frank R Chu