System and method for emulating preconditioning of solid-state device

• US 8,239,618 B2
• Filed: 05/27/2010
• Issued: 08/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Kotzur, Gary B., Dawkins, William Price
• Primary Examiner(s): PEUGH, BRIAN R
• Application Number:
  US12/788,775
• Publication Number:
  US 20110296079A1
• Time in Patent Office: 803 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 711/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0246 in block erasable memory, e.g. flash memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7201 Logical to physical mapping or translation of blocks or pages

Abstract

Systems and methods for reducing problems and disadvantages associated with traditional approaches to preconditioning solid-state devices are provided. A method may include storing at least one preconditioning status parameter indicative of at least one variable associated with preconditioning emulation of a solid state device (SSD) including a flash memory. The method may also include modifying a mapping table based on the at least one preconditioning status parameter to emulate preconditioning of the SSD, the mapping table including information for translating virtual logical block addresses (LBAs) of the SSD as seen by the processor into physical LBAs of the flash memory.

Claims

1. A solid state device (SSD), comprising:

a flash memory configured to store information associated with input/output operations to the SSD;

a mapping table including information for translating virtual logical block addresses (LBAs) of the SSD as seen by a processor external to the SSD into physical LBAs of the flash memory;

at least one preconditioning status parameter stored thereon and indicative of at least one variable associated with preconditioning emulation of the SSD; and

a controller communicatively coupled to the flash memory, the mapping table, and the at least one preconditioning status parameter, the controller configured to modify the mapping table based on the at least one preconditioning status parameter to emulate preconditioning of the SSD.

2. An SSD according to claim 1, wherein the at least one preconditioning status parameter includes at least one of:

a virtual LBA size parameter indicative of the size of virtual LBAs of SSD as seen by the processor;

a mapping table randomness parameter indicative of the randomness of mapping table; and

an invalidity parameter indicative of invalid storage locations of the flash memory.

3. An SSD according to claim 2, wherein the invalidity parameter is indicative of a percentage of invalid storage locations of flash memory.

4. An SSD according to claim 2, wherein the controller is configured to modify the mapping table to translate between virtual LBAs and physical LBAs based on the virtual LBA size parameter.

5. An SSD according to claim 2, wherein the controller is configured to modify the mapping table such that the mappings between virtual LBAs and physical LBAs in the mapping table are sequential or random based on the mapping table randomness parameter.

6. An SSD according to claim 2, wherein the controller is configured to modify the mapping table such that at least one storage location of the flash memory is set to invalid based on the invalidity parameter.

7. An SSD according to claim 1, wherein the flash memory is a NAND flash memory.

8. An SSD according to claim 1, the controller configured to modify the mapping table to emulate preconditioning of the SSD, such that preconditioning is emulated without data written to the flash memory.

9. An SSD according to claim 1, the controller configured to modify the mapping table in response to setting of a variable indicating enabling of preconditioning emulation.

10. A method comprising:

storing at least one preconditioning status parameter indicative of at least one variable associated with preconditioning emulation of a solid state device (SSD) including a flash memory; and

modifying a mapping table based on the at least one preconditioning status parameter to emulate preconditioning of the SSD, the mapping table including information for translating virtual logical block addresses (LBAs) of the SSD as seen by the processor into physical LBAs of the flash memory.

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein the at least one preconditioning status parameter includes at least one of:

a virtual LBA size parameter indicative of the size of virtual LBAs of SSD as seen by the processor;

a mapping table randomness parameter indicative of the randomness of mapping table; and

an invalidity parameter indicative of invalid storage locations of the flash memory.

12. A method according to claim 11, wherein the invalidity parameter is indicative of a percentage of invalid storage locations of flash memory.

13. A method according to claim 11, further comprising modifying the mapping table to translate between virtual LBAs and physical LBAs based on the virtual LBA size parameter.

14. A method according to claim 11, further comprising modifying the mapping table such that the mappings between virtual LBAs and physical LBAs in the mapping table are sequential or random based on the mapping table randomness parameter.

15. A method according to claim 11, further comprising modifying the mapping table such that at least one storage location of the flash memory is set to invalid based on the invalidity parameter.

16. A method according to claim 10, wherein the flash memory is a NAND flash memory.

17. A method according to claim 10, further comprising modifying the mapping table to emulate preconditioning of the SSD, such that preconditioning is emulated without data written to the flash memory.

18. A method according to claim 10, further comprising modifying the mapping table in response to setting of a variable indicating enabling of preconditioning emulation.

19. An information handling system, comprising:

a processor; and

a solid state device (SSD) communicatively coupled to the processor, the SSD comprising;

a flash memory configured to store information associated with input/output operations to the SSD;

a mapping table including information for translating virtual logical block addresses (LBAs) of the SSD as seen by the processor into physical LBAs of the flash memory;

at least one preconditioning status parameter stored thereon and indicative of at least one variable associated with preconditioning emulation of the SSD; and

a controller communicatively coupled to the flash memory, the mapping table, and the at least one preconditioning status parameter, the controller configured to modify the mapping table based on the at least one preconditioning status parameter to emulate preconditioning of the SSD.

20. An information handling system according to claim 19, wherein the information handling system comprises a device for testing the performance of solid state devices.