Partial block data programming and reading operations in a non-volatile memory

• US 7,818,490 B2
• Filed: 10/13/2005
• Issued: 10/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC (Western Digital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: SanDisk Corporation (Western Digital Corporation)
• Inventors: Conley, Kevin M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Hong
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dinh, Ngoc V
• Application Number:
  US11/250,238
• Publication Number:
  US 20060031627A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,832 Days
• Field of Search: 711/103
• US Class Current: 711/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0246 in block erasable memory, e.g. flash memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1016 Performance improvement
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1032 Reliability improvement, data loss prevention, degraded operation etc
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7202 Allocation control and policies
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7208 Multiple device management, e.g. distributing data over multiple flash devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7209 Validity control, e.g. using flags, time stamps or sequence numbers
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 16/102 External programming circuits, e.g. EPROM programmers; In-circuit programming or reprogramming; EPROM emulators
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 16/105 Circuits or methods for updating contents of nonvolatile memory, especially with 'security' features to ensure reliable replacement, i.e. preventing that old data is lost before new data is reliably written
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 2216/16 Flash programming of all the cells in an array, sector or block simultaneously

Abstract

Data in less than all of the pages of a non-volatile memory block are updated by programming the new data in unused pages of either the same or another block. In order to prevent having to copy unchanged pages of data into the new block, or to program flags into superceded pages of data, the pages of new data are identified by the same logical address as the pages of data which they superceded and a time stamp is added to note when each page was written. When reading the data, the most recent pages of data are used and the older superceded pages of data are ignored. This technique is also applied to metablocks that include one block from each of several different units of a memory array, by directing all page updates to a single unused block in one of the units.

Claims

1. A method of operating a memory system of reprogrammable non-volatile charge storage elements organized in blocks of a minimum number of storage elements that are erasable together as a unit and in pages of storage elements within the blocks that have specified offset positions within their respective blocks and which are individually programmable as a unit, comprising:

as part of writing data into pages, recording an indication of a time from a clock source that data are written into individual pages,

updating data previously written into one or more pages of one of original data blocks by writing the updated data into one or more update pages of an update data block and logically linking data of the corresponding previously written pages and update data pages, wherein the updated data are caused to be writable into pages of the update data block having different offset positions than the pages of the original data block into which the logically linked data being updated was previously written, and

when reading data of two or more logically linked data pages, read the indications of the times that the data have been stored in the two or more pages and use the data in the two or more pages having more recent time indications without using data in the two or more pages having older time indications.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein recording the indication of the time that data are written into individual pages includes recording the indication within the pages wherein the data are written.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein updating data previously written into one or more pages of one of the original data blocks includes updating data in a number of pages less than all of the pages of the one of the original data blocks while not updating data in a remaining one or more pages of the same original data block.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the memory system in which the method is carried out utilizes electrically conductive floating gates as the charge storage elements.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein as part of updating data, logically linking the corresponding previously written pages and update data pages comprises writing logical addresses of the updated data in the individual update pages in which the updated data are written.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein as part of writing data into pages, data are written in individual storage elements of the pages with more than two storage states, thereby storing more than one bit of data in the individual storage elements.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the memory system in which the method is carried out utilizes electrically conductive floating gates as the charge storage elements.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein logically linking the corresponding previously written pages and update data pages comprises maintaining common logical addresses thereof.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein maintaining common logical addresses comprises storing the common logical addresses in the pages of the original data block and in the pages of the update data block along with the respective previously written and updated data therein.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein reading the data further comprises organizing the read data by the logical page addresses associated with the read data.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein data are written into individual pages of the original and update data blocks in a specified sequence.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the original data previously written into one or more pages of one of original data blocks are written into pages of first and second blocks positioned in different ones of a plurality of units of the memory system, wherein the units are physically separate groupings of blocks of charge storage elements in which programming operations may be performed independently, and linking the first and second blocks to cause their charge storage elements to be erasable together and their pages to be programmable together in parallel.

13. The method of claim 1, additionally comprising:

updating data previously written into one or more pages of a second of the original data blocks by writing the updated data into one or more update pages of the update data block, and

logically linking data of the corresponding previously written pages of the second of the original data blocks and the update data pages.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein updating data previously written into one or more pages of the one and of the second of the original data blocks includes updating data in a number of pages less than all of the pages of the individual original data block while not updating data in a remaining one or more pages of the same individual original data block.

15. The method of claim 1, additionally comprising:

subsequently updating for a second time at least some of the data previously written into one or more pages of one of the original data blocks that were previously updated and written into the update data block,

writing the data updated for a second time into the update data block as second updated data pages, and

logically linking data of the corresponding previously written pages and the second updated data pages.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein updating data previously written into one or more pages of one of the original data blocks and subsequently updating the data for the second time each includes updating data in a number of pages less than all of the pages of the individual original data block while not updating data in a remaining one or more pages of said individual original data block.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the memory system in which the method is practiced is contained within an enclosed card having an electrical connector along one edge thereof for operably connecting with a host system.

18. A method of operating a memory system of reprogrammable non-volatile charge storage elements organized in blocks of a minimum number of storage elements that are erasable together as a unit and in pages of storage elements within the blocks that have specified offset positions within their respective blocks and which are individually programmable as a unit, comprising:

as part of writing data into pages, data are written into the pages of individual blocks in sequence,

updating data previously written into one or more initial pages of one of original data blocks by writing the updated data into one or more update pages of an update data block and logically linking data of previously written pages with corresponding update data pages, wherein the updated data are caused to be writable into pages of the update data block having different offset positions as the pages of the original data block into which the logically linked data being updated was previously written, and

reading data from the pages of the original data block and update data block in an order that is a reverse of the sequence in which they where written and ignore data in any page that is logically linked with a page from which data have already been read.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein updating data previously written into one or more pages of one of the original data blocks includes updating data in a number of pages less than all of the pages of the one of the original data blocks while not updating data in a remaining one or more pages of the same original data block.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the memory system in which the method is carried out utilizes electrically conductive floating gates as the charge storage elements.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein as part of updating data into pages, logically linking the corresponding previously written pages and update data pages comprises writing logical addresses of updated data in the individual update pages in which the updated data are written.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein as part of writing data into pages, data are written in individual storage elements of the pages with more than two storage states, thereby storing more than one bit of data in the individual storage elements.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein the memory system in which the method is carried out utilizes electrically conductive floating gates as the charge storage elements.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein logically linking the corresponding previously written pages and update data pages comprises maintaining common logical addresses thereof.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein maintaining common logical addresses comprises storing the common logical addresses in the pages of the original data block and in the pages of the update data block along with the respective previously written and updated data therein.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein reading the data further comprise organizing the read data by the logical page addresses associated with the read data.

27. The method of claim 18, wherein data are written into individual pages of the blocks in a specified sequence.

28. The method of claim 18, wherein the data written into one or more initial pages of one of the original data are written into pages of first and second blocks positioned in different ones of a plurality of units of the memory system, wherein the units are physically separate groupings of blocks of charge storage elements in which programming operations may be performed independently, and linking the first and second blocks to cause their charge storage elements to be erasable together and their pages to be programmable together in parallel.

29. The method of claim 18, additionally comprising:

updating data previously written into one or more pages of a second of the original data blocks by writing the updated data into one or more update pages of the update data block, and

logically linking data of the corresponding previously written pages of the second of the original data blocks and the update data pages.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein updating data previously written into one or more pages of the one and of the second of the original data blocks includes updating data in a number of pages less than all of the pages of the individual original data block while not updating data in a remaining one or more pages of the same individual original data block.

31. The method of claim 18, additionally comprising:

subsequently updating for a second time at least some of the data previously written into one or more pages of one of the original data blocks that were previously updated and written into the update data block,

writing the data updated for a second time into the update data block as second updated data pages, and

logically linking data of the corresponding previously written pages and the second updated data pages.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein updating data previously written into one or more pages of one of the original data blocks and subsequently updating the data for the second time each includes updating data in a number of pages less than all of the pages of the individual original data block while not updating data in a remaining one or more pages of the same individual original data block.

33. The method of claim 18, wherein the memory system in which the method is practiced is contained within an enclosed card having an electrical connector along one edge thereof for operably connecting with a host system.

34. In a re-programmable non-volatile semiconductor memory system having a plurality of blocks of a minimum number of memory charge storage elements that are erasable together as a unit, the plurality of blocks individually being divided into a plurality of a given number of pages of memory storage elements that are individually programmable as a unit and which have specified offset positions within their respective blocks, a method of operating the memory system, comprising:

programming original data into individual ones of a first plurality of pages in at least a first block, the pages of original data having logical addresses associated therewith,

thereafter programming, into individual ones of a second plurality of pages in a second block, an updated version of less than the given number of pages of the original data programmed into the first plurality of pages, the pages of the updated version of the original data having logical addresses associated therewith, wherein the logical addresses associated with the pages of the updated version of the original data are the same as the logical addresses associated with the pages of original data,

wherein programming the second plurality of pages additionally comprises programming the updated version of the original data in those of the second plurality of pages that have different offset positions within the second block than the offset positions of the first plurality of pages within said at least the first block that contain pages of original data with the same associated logical addresses,

thereafter reading data from the first and second plurality of pages, and

organizing pages of the read data by their associated logical addresses.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein reading data and organizing pages of the read data by their associated logical addresses comprises, for the pages of read data having the same logical addresses associated therewith, utilizing the pages of the updated version of the original data and omitting use of the pages of original data.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein reading data and organizing pages of the read data by their associated logical addresses additionally comprises utilizing the pages of original data that have not been updated.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein

programming original data into individual ones of the first plurality of pages and programming an updated version of the original data into individual ones of the second plurality of pages additionally comprises programming the individual pages with an indication of a relative time of programming the data therein, and

reading data and organizing pages of the read data additionally comprise, for pages of data having the same logical addresses associated therewith, selecting the updated data from the read pages having the most recent time indications and omitting use of the data from others of the pages.

38. The method of claim 34, wherein programming data into the first plurality of pages in at least the first block and programming data into the second plurality of pages in the second block each comprise programming data into individual pages of the individual blocks in a specified sequence.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein reading data and organizing pages of the read data comprise reading the first and second plurality of pages in an order that is reverse to said specified sequence, and ignoring data read from pages having logical addresses that are the same as logical addresses associated with other pages of data that have already been read.

40. The method of claim 34, wherein the logical addresses associated with the pages of original data individually includes a logical block number and a logical page offset.

41. The method of claim 34, wherein programming original data into the first plurality of pages and programming the updated version of the original data into the second plurality of pages each comprise programming the logical addresses in individual pages along with the data with which the programmed logical addresses are associated.

42. The method of claim 34, wherein programming original data into individual ones of the first plurality of pages in at least a first block includes programming the original data into a first plurality of pages in at least the first block and a third one of the blocks of charge storage elements located in different ones of a plurality of units of the memory system, wherein the plurality of units are physically separate groupings of blocks of charge storage elements in which programming operations may be performed independently, and linking the first and third blocks together as a metablock to cause their charge storage elements to be erasable together and their pages to be programmable together in parallel.

43. The method of any one of claims 34-42, additionally comprising:

subsequently programming, into individual ones of the second plurality of pages, a further updated version of at least some of the original data programmed into the first plurality of pages that have previously been updated and the updated version programmed into the second plurality of pages,

wherein the logical addresses associated with the pages of the further updated version of the original data are the same as the logical addresses associated with the pages of original data and the pages of the previously updated version of the original data.

44. The method of claim 43, which additionally comprises maintaining a data structure of the logical addresses associated with the pages of original data and the logical addresses associated with pages of the updated version of the original data that links (a) physical addresses of a plurality of blocks of memory storage elements that are storing data having common logical addresses with (b) those common logical addresses.

45. The method of claim 43, wherein organizing pages of the read data comprises writing the pages of read data into a volatile memory within the memory system.

46. The method of claim 43, additionally comprising operating the individual memory system charge storage elements with more than two storage states, thereby storing more than one bit of data in each storage element, wherein programming the pages includes programming the individual memory storage elements into more than two storage states and reading data includes reading the more than two storage states from the individual memory storage elements.

47. The method of any one of claims 34-42, additionally comprising operating the individual memory system charge storage elements with more than two storage states, thereby storing more than one bit of data in each storage element, wherein programming the pages includes programming the individual memory storage elements into more than two storage states and reading data includes reading the more than two storage states from the individual memory storage elements.

48. The method of claim 34, wherein the charge storage elements of the memory system in which the method is carried out comprise electrically conductive floating gates.

49. The method of any one of claims 34-42, wherein the memory system in which the method is practiced is contained within an enclosed card having an electrical connector along one edge thereof for operably connecting the memory system with a host system.

50. The method of any one of claims 34-42, which additionally comprises maintaining a data structure of the logical addresses associated with the pages of original data and the logical addresses associated with pages of the updated version of the original data that links (a) physical addresses of a plurality of blocks of memory storage elements that are storing data having common logical addresses with (b) those common logical addresses.

51. The method of any one of claims 34-42, wherein organizing pages of the read data comprises writing the pages of read data into a volatile memory within the memory system.

52. In a re-programmable non-volatile semiconductor memory system having a plurality of blocks of memory charge storage elements that are erasable together as a unit, the plurality of blocks individually being divided into a plurality of a given number of pages of memory storage elements that are programmable together, a method of operating the memory system, comprising:

programming individual ones of a first plurality of pages in at least a first block with original data, the pages of original data having logical addresses associated therewith,

thereafter programming individual ones of a second plurality of a total number of pages less than said given number in a second block with updated data and a logical address associated with the page of updated data, wherein the logical addresses associated with the pages of updated data programmed into the second plurality of pages are the same as those associated with the pages of original data programmed into the first plurality of pages,

wherein programming the second plurality of pages additionally comprises programming the updated version of the original data in those of the second plurality of pages that have different offset positions within the second block than the offset positions of the first plurality of pages within said at least the first block that contain pages of original data with the same logical addresses associated therewith,

thereafter reading data from the first and second plurality of pages, and

organizing pages of the read data by the logical addresses associated therewith.

53. The method of claim 52, wherein reading data and organizing pages of the read data by the logical addresses associated therewith comprises, for a plurality of pages of read data having the same logical addresses associated therewith, utilizing the pages of the updated version of the original data and omitting use of the pages of original data.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein reading data and organizing pages of the read data by the logical addresses associated therewith additionally comprises utilizing the pages of original data that have not been updated.

55. The method of claim 52, wherein programming data into the first plurality of pages in at least the first block and programming data into the second plurality of pages in the second block each comprise programming data into individual pages of the individual blocks in a specified sequence.

56. The method of claim 52, wherein the logical address associated with the page of original data includes a logical block number and a logical page offset.

57. The method of claim 52, wherein programming original data into the first plurality of pages additionally comprises programming in the pages the logical addresses for associated with the data programmed therein.

58. The method of claim 52, wherein programming original data into individual ones of the first plurality of pages in at least a first block includes programming the original data into a first plurality of pages in at least the first and a third one of the blocks of charge storage elements located in different ones of a plurality of units of the memory system, wherein the units are physically separate groupings of blocks of charge storage elements in which programming operations may be performed independently, and linking the first and third blocks together as a metablock to cause their charge storage elements to be erasable together and pages thereof to be programmable together in parallel.

59. The method of claim 58, additionally comprising:

subsequently programming, into individual ones of the second plurality of pages, a further updated version of at least some of the original data programmed into the first plurality of pages that have previously been updated and the updated version programmed into the second plurality of pages,

wherein the logical addresses associated with the further updated version of the original data are the same as the logical addresses associated with the original data and the previously updated version of the original data.

60. The method of claim 59, wherein the addresses associated with pages of original and updated data are individually expressed as a logical block number and a logical page offset.

61. The method of claim 52, additionally comprising:

subsequently programming, into individual ones of the second plurality of pages, a further updated version of at least some of the original data programmed into the first plurality of pages that have previously been updated and the updated version programmed into the second plurality of pages,

wherein the logical addresses associated with the further updated version of the original data are the same as the logical addresses associated with the original data and the previously updated version of the original data.

62. The method of claim 52, wherein the addresses associated with pages of original and updated data are individually expressed as a logical block number and a logical page offset.

63. The method of claim 52, which additionally comprises maintaining a data structure of the logical addresses associated with the pages of original data and the logical addresses associated with pages of the updated version of the original data that links (a) physical addresses of a plurality of blocks of memory storage elements that are storing data having common logical addresses with (b) those common logical addresses.

64. The method of claim 52, wherein organizing pages of the read data comprises writing the pages of read data into a volatile memory within the memory system.

65. A method of operating a memory system having an array of reprogrammable non-volatile charge storage elements organized in blocks of storage elements that are erasable together and in pages of storage elements within the blocks that are individually programmable as a unit, comprising:

maintaining an indication of a time separately for individual blocks,

as part of writing data into any one or more of the pages of one of the blocks, updating the indication of a time maintained for the one block to a current time,

when updating data previously written into one or more initial pages, writing the updated data into one or more update pages and identifying the data written into the initial and update pages by common logical addresses, and

as part of reading data having common logical addresses from two or more pages of two or more blocks, reading the indications of the times from the two or more blocks and using the data in the two or more blocks having more recent indications of time without using data in the two or more blocks having older indications of time, and reading data from pages within each of the two or more blocks according to a reverse order in physical address to that by which the pages were written, and ignoring data from any page having the same logical address as data of a page from which data have already been read.

66. A method of operating a non-volatile memory system having a plurality of blocks of memory storage elements that are individually erasable together, wherein the individual blocks are divided into a plurality of pages of storage elements that are programmable together, the blocks being organized in at least two separate units in which programming may be performed independently, comprising:

linking at least one block from individual ones of said at least two units to form a metablock wherein the storage elements of its component blocks are erased together, and

updating one or more pages of original data within any of the metablock component blocks less than all the pages within the block by programming replacement data into another at least one block in only a designated one of the units regardless of which unit the data being updated are stored.

67. The method of claim 66, wherein storing the original and replacement data comprises:

identifying the original and replacement data by the same logical address to the memory system, and

distinguishing the replacement data from the original data by determining the relative order in time in which the original and replacement data have been programmed in their respective pages of the memory.

68. The method of claim 66, wherein updating one or more pages of original data further includes programming a logical address associated with both the original and replacement data.

69. The method of claim 68, wherein programming a logical address associated with both the original and replacement data includes programming both a logical block number and a logical page offset.

70. The method of claim 66, wherein the memory storage elements of the non-volatile memory system in which the method is carried out comprise electrically conductive floating gates.

71. The method of claim 66, additionally comprising programming the original and replacement data into the individual memory storage elements with more than two storage states, thereby storing more than one bit of data the individual memory storage elements.

72. The method of claim 66, wherein the non-volatile memory system in which the method is practiced is contained within an enclosed card having an electrical connector along one edge thereof for operably connecting the memory system with a host system.

73. In a re-programmable non-volatile memory system having a plurality of blocks of memory storage elements that are erasable together as a unit, the plurality of blocks individually being divided into a plurality of a given number of pages of memory storage elements that are programmable together, a method of operating the memory system, comprising:

in response to receiving pages of original user data and logical addresses associated therewith, programming individual ones of a first plurality of pages of memory storage elements in at least a first block with the received pages of original user data,

in response to subsequently receiving one or more pages of updated user data and logical addresses associated therewith that are common with the logical addresses associated with at least some of the programmed pages of original user data, programming the one or more pages of updated user data into a second plurality of a total number of pages of memory storage elements less than said given number in at least a second block of memory storage elements, wherein the one or more pages of updated user data are programmable into pages of said at least the second block of memory storage elements having different offset positions therein than the offset positions of pages within said at least the first block of memory storage elements in which pages of original user data were programmed that have logical addresses associated therewith that are common with the logical addresses associated with the pages of updated user data, and

thereafter reading at least pages of original user data that have not been updated from the first plurality of pages of memory storage elements and pages of updated user data from the second plurality of pages of memory storage elements.

74. The method of claim 73, additionally comprising programming the logical addresses associated with the programmed pages of updated user data.

75. The method of claim 74, wherein programming the logical addresses associated with the pages of updated user data includes programming the logical addresses associated with the pages of updated data within the pages of memory storage elements in which the pages of updated user data with which the logical addresses are associated are programmed.

76. The method of claim 75, additionally comprising reading from the pages of updated user data the logical addresses associated with the read pages of updated user data.

77. The method of any one of claims 74-76, wherein the programmed logical addresses common with those associated with the pages of updated user data individually include a logical block number and a logical page offset.

78. The method of any one of claims 73-75, additionally comprising programming, into those of the first plurality of pages of memory storage elements in which the received pages of original user data are programmed, logical addresses common with the received logical addresses associated with the pages of original user data programmed therein.

79. The method of claim 78, additionally comprising reading from the pages of original user data the logical addresses associated with the read pages of original user data.

80. The method of claim 78, wherein the programmed logical addresses common with those associated with the pages of original user data individually include a logical block number and a logical page offset.

81. The method of claim 73, wherein programming the received pages of original user data includes programming the received pages of original user data in the pages of memory storage elements of at least the first block having offsets therein that correspond to bits of the logical addresses associated with the received pages of original user data.

82. The method of claim 73, additionally comprising organizing the read pages of original user data that have not been updated and the read pages of updated user data in an order of their associated logical addresses.

83. The method of claim 82, wherein organizing the read pages of original and updated user data includes temporarily storing within the memory system at least some of the read pages of user data in the organized order.

84. The method of claim 73, additionally comprising transferring out of the memory system the read pages of original user data that have not been updated and the read pages of updated user data.

85. The method of claim 73, additionally comprising, in response to receiving pages of further updated user data having logical addresses common with the logical addresses associated with at least some of the programmed pages of original user data that have previously been updated, programming the received pages of further updated user data into the second plurality of pages of memory storage elements.

86. The method of any one of claims 82-85, additionally comprising programming, into those of the second plurality of pages of memory storage elements in which the received one or more pages of updated user data are programmed, the logical addresses associated with the pages of updated user data programmed therein.

87. The method of any one of claims 73-76 and 85, wherein the method is practiced by operating a memory system wherein the plurality of blocks of memory storage elements are organized in a plurality of units of physically separate groupings of blocks of memory storage elements in which programming operations may be performed independently, wherein the at least a first block includes the first block in one of the units and at least a third block in another one of the units, the method additionally comprising:

linking the first and third blocks together as a metablock to cause their memory storage elements to be erasable together and their pages to be programmable together in parallel, and

wherein programming the received pages of original user data includes programming the pages of original user data in parallel into a first plurality of pages of memory storage elements in at least the first and third blocks.

88. The method of claim 87, wherein programming the pages of updated user data into the second plurality of pages of memory storage elements includes programming the pages of updated user data into the second block of memory storage elements that is located in one of the plurality of units of the memory system.

89. The method of any one of claims 73-76 and 85, additionally comprising operating the individual memory system memory storage elements with more than two storage states, thereby storing more than one bit of user data in each storage element, wherein programming the pages of memory storage elements includes programming the individual memory storage elements into more than two storage states, and wherein reading user data includes reading the more than two storage states from the individual memory storage elements.

90. The method of claim 73, wherein the memory storage elements of the memory system in which the method is carried out comprise electrically conductive floating gates.

91. The method of claim 73, wherein the memory system in which the method is practiced is contained within an enclosed card having externally accessible electrical contacts connected with the memory system that are connectable with a host system from which the original and updated user data are received.

92. The method of claim 73, wherein programming pages of user data into the first plurality of pages of memory storage elements in at least the first block and programming pages of updated user data into the second plurality of pages in the second block each comprise programming user data into individual pages of the individual blocks in a specified sequence.

93. The method of claim 92, wherein reading user data include reading the first and second plurality of pages of user data in an order that is reverse to said specified sequence, and ignoring user data read from pages having logical addresses that are common with logical addresses associated with other pages of data that have already been read.

94. In a re-programmable non-volatile semiconductor memory system having a plurality of sub-arrays of memory storage elements in which programming operations may be performed independently, the sub-arrays individually being divided into a plurality of blocks of memory storage elements that are erasable together as a unit, the plurality of blocks individually being divided into a plurality of pages of memory storage elements that are programmable together, a method of operating the memory system, comprising:

linking together blocks within the plurality of sub-arrays to form a plurality of metablocks whose memory storage elements are erasable together and whose pages of memory storage elements within the linked blocks are programmable together in parallel,

programming pages of original data of a file into individual ones of an erased first plurality of pages in a first plurality of blocks forming a first metablock, the pages of original data having logical addresses associated therewith,

thereafter programming one or more pages of updated data of the file into individual ones of an erased second plurality of pages in at least a second block, the pages of updated data having logical addresses associated therewith, wherein the logical addresses associated with the pages of updated data programmed into the second plurality of pages are common with those associated with the pages of original data programmed into the first plurality of pages,

wherein programming the second plurality of pages additionally allows programming the updated version of the original data in those of the second plurality of pages of memory storage elements that have different offset positions within the at least the second block than the offset positions of the first plurality of pages within the first plurality of blocks that contain pages of original data with common logical addresses associated therewith, and

thereafter reading data of the file from the first and second plurality of pages.

95. The method of claim 94, wherein programming the updated data includes programming the one or more pages of updated data of the file into individual ones of the erased second plurality of pages in the at least the second block that includes a second plurality of blocks forming a second metablock.

96. The method of claim 94, wherein programming the updated data includes programming the one or more pages of updated data of the file into individual ones of the erased second plurality of pages in only the second block.

97. The method of claim 94, wherein the memory system in which the method is carried out is characterized by the pages of memory storage elements being programmable in a preset order within the individual blocks, and wherein programming the pages of original data includes programming the pages of original data of the file in an order of their associated logical addresses.

98. The method of any one of claims 94-97, which additionally comprises programming the logical addresses associated with the programmed pages of the updated data within the pages of memory storage elements in which the pages of updated data with which the logical addresses are associated are programmed.

99. The method of claim 98, wherein the programmed logical addresses common with those associated with the pages of updated data individually include a logical block number and a logical page offset.

100. The method of any one of claims 94-97, which additionally comprises programming the logical addresses associated with the programmed pages of the original data within the pages of memory storage elements in which the pages of original data with which the logical addresses are associated are programmed.

101. The method of claim 100, wherein the programmed logical addresses common with those associated with the pages of original data individually include a logical block number and a logical page offset.

102. The method of claim 94, additionally comprising programming pages of further updated data into a third plurality of pages, the pages of further updated data having logical addresses common with the logical addresses associated with at least some of the programmed pages of original data that have previously been updated.

103. The method of claim 102, additionally comprising programming the logical addresses associated with the programmed pages of the updated data and the further updated data within the pages of memory storage elements in which the pages of updated data with which the logical addresses are associated are programmed.

104. The method of any one of claims 94-97, wherein reading data of the file includes reading the pages of original data of the file that have not been updated and the pages of updated data of the file, and wherein the method additionally comprises organizing the read pages of original data of the file that have not been updated and the pages of updated data of the file in an order of their associated logical addresses.

105. The method of claim 94, additionally comprising transferring out of the memory system the read pages of original data that have not been updated and the read pages of updated data.

106. The method of any one of claims 94-97 and 102-103, additionally comprising operating the individual memory system memory storage elements with more than two storage states, thereby storing more than one bit of data in each of the memory storage elements, wherein programming the pages of memory storage elements includes programming the individual memory storage elements into more than two storage states, and wherein reading the data includes reading the more than two storage states from the individual memory storage elements.