Re: Here's info on Fusion-IO flash's tech.
in response to
by
posted on
Mar 15, 2013 06:13PM
"But it doesn’t have any moving parts, which means it’s generally more reliable. It consumes less power. And it lets you read and write data far more quickly."
The underlined is debatable...For consumer battery powered products, it's fast if you utilize e.Digital's methods in not having to deal with erase block(or array) allocation management prior to saving data.
For consumer battery powered products, the traditional methods for the allocation of space within flash is cumbersome....meaning you have to traditionally organize space within erase blocks(or arrays) prior to saving(or writing) the data....While at the same time you have to deal with directive structure files that detail where all the specifics of the data are stored....they need to be updated when any changes occur.
e.Digital does not have to organize space to save a file...they can save data anywhere ...across many arrays(erase blocks) and get total recall of data....They do not deal with allocating space as typically done....not for flash type memories or hard drives, ...etc. e.Digital methods are not only important to flash...but other memories as well.
The novelty of e.Digital and data management is in header schemes. Meaning, as files are created... the details of the file are created within a header of each and every file segment of the file. e.Digital does not build a complete file at once, it builds individual segments of a file and saves(writes) each segment separately....and collectively they physically(through the novel header issues) tie together creating a traditional and complete file. This segmentation is what allows the editing of a complete file as each segment is a saved file(lol). You edit in and out of the individual saved segments. This editing issue is now part of the current legal actions. This editing issue(and other issues of importance I could point out) may be important for a server environment depending on what the data is used for...video, audio,...telementary type issues ...as well as tracking bad memory cell problems on server memory.
The I/O (in-put / out-put) that is important to the above is the way they move(though things do not actually move) the data on and off the flash. They implement various(depending on how fast they want things processed) caching methods sizing the data segment to the write of the memory.
They have claims and claim terms outlining these processes....that allow for the speed regarding I/O
What puts the pep in Fusion-io...I have no idea. Other than the fact that server memory can stack mountains of flash arrays in all kinds of ways and dedicate large chunks for various management functions. You can analogize it to utilizing a bulldozer to dig your back yard garden and power is of no concern.
I know what e.Digital does and they contribute to power constrained issues. With that, moving data to/from a server environment and a consumer products environment can't utilize the bulldozer method of data management...it will be down sized.
e.Digital now has patents on that interaction.
It's not about how fancy a server environment might be, it's about how consumer products can interact with that environment.
doni