FORTASA BLOG

Wear Leveling - Simplest Way to Increase SSD Life

The most concerning question lingering with most SSD customer is how long with the Flash drive last. Even Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) which have been used in ubiquitous computing applications for over 50 years and went through many generations of technical improvements are well known for frequent errors and even catastrophic failures. SSDs which are appreciated by the Industrial Application market segment for it's superior environmental and temperature specifications are also expected to offer greater reliability and useful life expectancy.

The major drawback that all Flash based storage solutions inherently possess is a limited number of write cycles that can be performed on any specific memory sector. This limit is uniquely specified in the data sheet for each memory component. Ranging from 3Kcycles for an MLC NAND Flash to 100Kcycles for an SLC NAND Flash, this finite threshold is a stated limit of the component's ability to perform as expected.

To overcome the component technical limitation, the Flash Controller developers have devised various system level solutions to improve the overall usage and life expectancy of the whole drive. A major part of this improvement solution is a Wear Leveling algorithm that spreads the uneven usage of specific memory block across the full memory address space.

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Wear Leveling - Simplest Way to Increase SSD Life

The most concerning question lingering with most SSD customer is how long with the Flash drive last. Even Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) which have been used in ubiquitous computing applications for over 50 years and went through many generations of technical improvements are well known for frequent errors and even catastrophic failures. SSDs which are appreciated by the Industrial Application market segment for it's superior environmental and temperature specifications are also expected to offer greater reliability and useful life expectancy.

The major drawback that all Flash based storage solutions inherently possess is a limited number of write cycles that can be performed on any specific memory sector. This limit is uniquely specified in the data sheet for each memory component. Ranging from 3Kcycles for an MLC NAND Flash to 100Kcycles for an SLC NAND Flash, this finite threshold is a stated limit of the component's ability to perform as expected.

To overcome the component technical limitation, the Flash Controller developers have devised various system level solutions to improve the overall usage and life expectancy of the whole drive. A major part of this improvement solution is a Wear Leveling algorithm that spreads the uneven usage of specific memory block across the full memory address space.

READ MORE

MLC NAND Flash Supports Industrial Temperature Range - -40oC - +85oC

Many end applications for Industrial Storage Products such as SSDs and Flash cards require full Industrial temperature range operation. That means the the storage device needs to be fully functional and operate reliably even under the most extreme temperature conditions. An industry convention proliferated to differentiate between a typical consumer operation of 0oC to +70oC (Standard Temperature) and Industrial requirement of -40oC to +85oC (Industrial Temperature).

Upto a few years ago the only Storage Products capable of full Industrial Temperature compliance were the ones manufactured using the Single-Level Cell (SLC) NAND Flash. The SLC Flash offered not only full Industrial Temperature compliance, but also a very high endurance rating of 60K to 100K cycles. The only drawback to using SLC NAND based SSDs was the high cost of the solution.

At the same time, the Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND Flash was being aggressively driven into a multitude of high volume consumer applications such as Digital Cameras, MP3 players, Cellular Phones and Tablet PCs. MLC Flash made most sense in these consumer "disposable" application as while the endurance rating of typically 3K cycles and temperature support were minimal, the component price was almost four times cheaper than the equivalent capacity SLC component.

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MLC NAND Flash Supports Industrial Temperature Range - -40oC - +85oC

Many end applications for Industrial Storage Products such as SSDs and Flash cards require full Industrial temperature range operation. That means the the storage device needs to be fully functional and operate reliably even under the most extreme temperature conditions. An industry convention proliferated to differentiate between a typical consumer operation of 0oC to +70oC (Standard Temperature) and Industrial requirement of -40oC to +85oC (Industrial Temperature).

Upto a few years ago the only Storage Products capable of full Industrial Temperature compliance were the ones manufactured using the Single-Level Cell (SLC) NAND Flash. The SLC Flash offered not only full Industrial Temperature compliance, but also a very high endurance rating of 60K to 100K cycles. The only drawback to using SLC NAND based SSDs was the high cost of the solution.

At the same time, the Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND Flash was being aggressively driven into a multitude of high volume consumer applications such as Digital Cameras, MP3 players, Cellular Phones and Tablet PCs. MLC Flash made most sense in these consumer "disposable" application as while the endurance rating of typically 3K cycles and temperature support were minimal, the component price was almost four times cheaper than the equivalent capacity SLC component.

READ MORE