Storage system data hardening

• US 8,671,259 B2
• Filed: 12/31/2012
• Issued: 03/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Original Assignee: LSI Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Stenfort, Ross John
• Primary Examiner(s): Farrokh, Hashem
• Application Number:
  US13/732,318
• Publication Number:
  US 20130124777A1
• Time in Patent Office: 435 Days
• Field of Search: 711/166, 711/103
• US Class Current: 711/166
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/30 Means for acting in the event of power-supply failure or interruption, e.g. power-supply fluctuations for resetting only G06F1/24
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3234 Power saving characterised by the action undertaken
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0246 in block erasable memory, e.g. flash memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/14 Protection against unauthorised use of memory or access to memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7201 Logical to physical mapping or translation of blocks or pages
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2213/0038 System on Chip
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0661 Format or protocol conversion arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 29/02 Detection or location of defective auxiliary circuits, e.g. defective refresh counters
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 5/141 Battery and back-up supplies

Abstract

A bridge receives a power down command and in response converts the power down command to a data hardening command. The bridge issues the data hardening command to a solid state disk. In response to the data hardening command, data stored on the solid state disk is hardened. The hardening comprises writing data in volatile memory to non-volatile memory. The data that is hardened comprises user data and protected data. The data hardening command optionally comprises one or more of a flush cache command, a sleep command, and a standby immediate command.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

in a bridge, receiving a power down command and in response converting the power down command to a data hardening command;

from the bridge, issuing the data hardening command to a solid state disk;

in response to the data hardening command, hardening data stored on the solid state disk, the hardening comprising writing data in volatile memory to non-volatile memory; and

wherein the data that is hardened comprises user data and protection data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data hardening command comprises one or more of a flush cache command, a sleep command, and a standby immediate command.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising determining that the flush cache command, the sleep command, and the standby immediate command are not to be issued, and in response, issuing another data hardening command.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the data that is hardened is stored on the solid state disk.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-volatile memory comprises flash memory.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the bridge receiving information transmitted from one or more initiators.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the bridge comprises one or more Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) bridges.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the bridge sending a command to the solid state disk to test an energy storage device of the solid state disk, the energy storage device comprising one or more of a super capacitor and a battery.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the solid state disk returning status about the last time the energy storage device was tested.

10. A system, comprising:

a bridge;

a solid state disk;

wherein the bridge is enabled to receive a power down command and in response convert the power down command to a data hardening command;

wherein the bridge is further enabled to issue the data hardening command to the solid state disk;

wherein the system is enabled, in response to the data hardening command, to perform hardening of data stored on the solid state disk, the hardening comprising writing data in volatile memory to non-volatile memory; and

wherein the data that is hardened comprises user data and protection data.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the data hardening command comprises one or more of a flush cache command, a sleep command, and a standby immediate command.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein it is determined that the flush cache command, the sleep command, and the standby immediate command are not to be issued, and in response, another data hardening command is issued.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the data that is hardened is stored on the solid state disk.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the non-volatile memory comprises flash memory.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the bridge is further enabled to receive information transmitted from one or more initiators.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the bridge comprises one or more Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) bridges.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the solid state disk comprises an energy storage device comprising one or more of a super capacitor and a battery, and the bridge is enabled to send a command to the solid state disk to test the energy storage device.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the solid state disk is enabled to return status about the last time the energy storage device was tested.

19. A system, comprising:

means for receiving, in a bridge, a power down command and in response converting the power down command to a data hardening command;

means for issuing, from the bridge, the data hardening command to a solid state disk;

means for, in response to the data hardening command, hardening data stored on the solid state disk, the hardening comprising writing data in volatile memory to non-volatile memory; and

wherein the data that is hardened comprises user data and protection data.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the data hardening command comprises one or more of a flush cache command, a sleep command, and a standby immediate command.