USING EXTERNAL MEMORY DEVICES TO IMPROVE SYSTEM PERFORMANCE

• US 20110276743A1
• Filed: 07/21/2011
• Published: 11/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Fortin, Michael R., Ergan, Cenk, Kirshenbaum, Alexander, Reinauer, Robert L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,909,861 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0866 for peripheral storage systems, e.g. disk cache
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0611 in relation to response time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0655 Vertical data movement, i.e. input-output transfer; data movement between one or more hosts and one or more storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0685 Hybrid storage combining heterogeneous device types, e.g. hierarchical storage, hybrid arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0688 Non-volatile semiconductor memory arrays

Abstract

The invention is directed towards a system and method that utilizes external memory devices to cache sectors from a rotating storage device (e.g., a hard drive) to improve system performance. When an external memory device (EMD) is plugged into the computing device or onto a network in which the computing device is connected, the system recognizes the EMD and populates the EMD with disk sectors. The system routes I/O read requests directed to the disk sector to the EMD cache instead of the actual disk sector. The use of EMDs increases performance and productivity on the computing device systems for a fraction of the cost of adding memory to the computing device.

Claims

1. A mass storage system comprising:

a solid-state memory;

a manager configured for determining that a read request is directed to data of a sector of a mass storage device and that the data is available from the solid-state memory, for redirecting the read request to the solid-state memory, and for prioritizing copying sector data from the mass storage device to the solid-state memory based on a criteria.

2. The mass storage system of claim 1 wherein the criteria includes a historical usage of a particular sector'"'"'s data.

3. The mass storage system of claim 1 wherein the criteria includes sectors being accessed.

4. The mass storage system of claim 1 wherein the read request is completed faster from the solid-state memory than from the mass storage device.

5. The mass storage system of claim 1 wherein the solid-state memory is non-volatile.

6. The mass storage system of claim 1 wherein the mass storage device is a disk drive.

7. There mass storage system of claim 1 wherein data is first written to the mass storage device and then copied back to the solid-state memory as opposed to being first written to the solid-state memory.

8. A method comprising:

determining that a read request is directed to data of a sector of a mass storage device and that the data is available from a solid-state memory;

redirecting, in response to the determining, the read request to the solid-state memory; and

prioritizing copying sector data from the mass storage device to the solid-state memory based on a criteria.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the criteria includes a historical usage of a particular sector'"'"'s data.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the criteria includes sectors being accessed.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the read request is completed faster from the solid-state memory than from the mass storage device.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the solid-state memory is non-volatile.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein the mass storage device is a disk drive.

14. There method of claim 8 wherein data is first written to the mass storage device and then copied back to the solid-state memory as opposed to being first written to the solid-state memory.

15. At least one computer storage media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method comprising:

determining that a read request is directed to data of a sector of a mass storage device and that the data is available from a solid-state memory;

redirecting, in response to the determining, the read request to the solid-state memory; and

prioritizing copying sector data from the mass storage device to the solid-state memory based on a criteria.

16. The at least one computer storage media of claim 15 wherein the criteria includes a historical usage of a particular sector'"'"'s data.

17. The at least one computer storage media of claim 15 wherein the criteria includes sectors being accessed.

18. The at least one computer storage media of claim 15 wherein the read request is completed faster from the solid-state memory than from the mass storage device.

19. The at least one computer storage media of claim 15 wherein the solid-state memory is non-volatile.

20. There at least one computer storage media of claim 15 wherein data is first written to the mass storage device and then copied back to the solid-state memory as opposed to being first written to the solid-state memory.