TWI747349B - Low-level formatting method of storage device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a low-level formatting method for a storage device. The storage device has a plurality of storage blocks. The low-level formatting method includes: searching whether a plurality of storage blocks in the storage device already exists a reliability and life cycle test result or firmware storage information, both of the reliability and life cycle test result and the firmware storage information include a program-erase (P/E) cycle record and a terabyte write （TBW） record of the storage device; if the reliability and life cycle test result or the firmware storage information exist in the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device, determining whether a P/E cycle and a TBW of the storage device are recorded in the P/E cycle record and the TBW record; if the reliability and life cycle test result and the firmware storage information do not exist in the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device, values of the P/E cycle and the TBW of the storage device are set to 0, and written into the storage block of the storage device; if the P/E cycle and the TBW of the storage device are recorded in the P/E cycle record and the TBW record, the recorded values of the P/E cycle and the TBW are written to the storage block of the storage device; and if the P/E cycle and the TBW of the storage device are not recorded in the P/E cycle record and the TBW record, the values of the P/E cycle and the TBW of the storage device are set to 0, and written into the storage block of the storage device.

Description

Low-level formatting method of storage device

The present invention relates to a low-level formatting method of a storage device, in particular to a low-level formatting method of a flash memory storage device.

A solid state drive (Solid State Disk or Solid State Drive, SSD for short) is commonly known as a solid state drive. A solid state drive is a hard drive made of an array of solid electronic storage chips. The P/E (Program-Erase) Cycle of SSD refers to the number of erasing and writing of the storage medium NAND in the SSD, while TBW (Terabyte Write, write megabytes) refers to the entire life cycle of the SSD. The number of megabytes for writing. Both of the two parameters are indicators for measuring the lifetime of the SSD.

FIG. 1a is a schematic diagram of reading the configuration file (config) of the existing SSD system firmware (Whole System Firmware). First, before the low-level formatting of the SSD, the low-level formatted firmware writes its internal configuration file into a storage block of NAND, and then the system firmware reads the configuration file from the storage block. The configuration file contains a lot of parameter information, such as low-level formatting mode. From these parameters, you can determine whether to open RDT firmware (Reliability and Duration Test Firmware) or system firmware (Whole System Firmware) for low-level formatting.

Figure 1b is a schematic diagram of a low-level format to open the RDT firmware. In Figure 1b, the system firmware (Whole System Firmware) reads the configuration file and obtains the information of the low-level format to open the RDT firmware. Therefore, the RDT firmware starts to detect each block in the NAND one by one, and will test it. The result is written back to a predetermined block of NAND, and the flow is shown in Figure 2a.

Figure 1c shows a schematic diagram of a low-level format to open the system firmware (Whole System Firmware). In this mode, the system firmware will perform read operations, write operations, garbage collection, etc. of the main controller, as shown in Figure 2b. In this mode, the information read by the system firmware will reside in SRAM, and the firmware can modify (update) its content at any time, and write P/E Cycle and TBW information to the NAND backup at regular intervals.

Figure 2c shows a flow chart of the existing low-level formatting, including determining whether the low-level formatting is to open the RDT firmware (that is, perform the mode of Figure 1b) or the system firmware (that is, perform the mode of Figure 1c) (step S21), Check the damaged NAND block (step S22), select the pulse phase of the calibration data (step S23), update the relevant parameters (damaged block, selected pulse phase) to the firmware, and write the updated firmware NAND (step S24) and so on.

In addition, before the SSD is shipped, the low-level formatting mode of Figure 1b will be performed to open the RDT firmware, and then the mode of opening the system firmware (Whole System Firmware) of Figure 1c will be performed. However, in the detection process of the RDT firmware of FIG. 1b, the detection of the block requires reading and writing operations, which will destroy the originally written data (strikethrough as shown in FIG. 1b) , So the mentioned P/E Cycle and TBW information will disappear. As a result, for SSDs under Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA), after low-level formatting, the previous P/E Cycle and TBW information of the SSD cannot be inherited.

Furthermore, if the SSD has been used for a long time and the low-level format is performed again due to some factors, the P/E Cycle and TBW of the SSD have accumulated a considerable value, and the low-level format (in the description The RDT firmware detection process in Figure 1b) will delete the information afterwards. Therefore, the user knows that the life cycle of the SSD is not the true life cycle. As a result, the data is not backed up before the true end of the SSD life. Irrecoverable data is missing.

In view of this, how can the previous P/E Cycle and TBW information of the SSD be inherited after low-level formatting, so that users can know the true P/E Cycle and TBW of the SSD and avoid data loss? Problems to be solved.

The present invention relates to a low-level formatting method of a storage device. The storage device has a plurality of storage blocks. The low-level formatting method includes: searching for whether one of the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device already exists. Reliability and life cycle test results or a piece of firmware storage information, the reliability and life cycle test results and the firmware storage information all include a record of the number of times of erasing and writing of the storage device and a write megabyte Record; if the reliability and life cycle test results or the firmware storage information exist in the multiple storage blocks of the storage device, then determine the erasing and writing times record and the writing megabit In the tuple record, whether a number of erasing and writing and a writing megabyte of the storage device are recorded; if the reliability and life cycle test does not exist in the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device As a result and the firmware storage information, the number of erasing and writing of the storage device and the value of the written megabytes are set to 0 (the default value), and all of the storage device is written The storage block; if the erasing and writing times record and the writing megabytes record record the erasing and writing times of the storage device and the writing megabytes, then the recorded The number of erasing and writing and the value of the written megabyte are written into the storage block of the storage device; and if the storage device is not recorded in the record of the number of erasing and writing and the written megabyte record The number of erasing and writing and the writing megabyte set, the number of erasing and writing of the storage device and the value of the writing megabyte set to 0 (default value), and writing Into the storage block of the storage device.

The present invention also relates to a storage device. The storage device includes a processor and a plurality of storage blocks, wherein the processor executes the low-level formatting method.

Wherein, the low-level formatting method of the storage device further includes: confirming the validity of the erasing and writing times record and the writing megabyte record.

Wherein, the low-level formatting method of the storage device further includes: reading the storage block of the storage device; obtaining the erasing and writing times record and the writing from the storage block of the storage device A megabyte record; and integrating the acquired record of the number of erasing and writing and the written megabyte record into the reliability and life cycle test result.

Wherein, in the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device, the erasing and writing times record and the writing megabyte record of the storage device at different time points are stored, and the method further includes : Read the storage block of the storage device; obtain the erase/write count record and the write megabyte record at the latest time point of the storage device; and write the obtained erase/write The frequency record and the write megabyte record are written back to a predetermined storage block of the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device to generate the firmware storage information.

Wherein, the storage device is a flash memory storage device.

Wherein, in the process of obtaining and writing the erasing and writing times record and the writing megabyte record, the test results of the plurality of storage blocks, the erasing and writing times record and the writing The megabyte records will be integrated into the reliability and life cycle test results.

Wherein, in the process of obtaining and writing the erasing and writing times record and the writing megabyte record at the latest time point of the storage device, the low-level formatting method of the storage device further includes: Perform read operations; perform write operations; and perform garbage collection operations.

Other advantages of the present invention will be explained in more detail in conjunction with the following description and drawings.

Hereinafter, the embodiments of the present invention will be described in conjunction with related drawings. In these drawings, the same reference numerals indicate the same or similar elements or method flows.

It must be understood that the words "including", "including" and other words used in this specification are used to indicate the existence of specific technical features, values, method steps, operations, elements, and/or elements, but they do not exclude Add more technical features, values, method steps, job processing, components, components, or any combination of the above.

Words such as "first", "second", and "third" used in the present invention are used to modify elements in the claims, and are not used to indicate that there is an order of priority, an advance relationship, or that an element comes first. For another element, or the chronological order of execution of method steps, it is only used to distinguish elements with the same name.

It must be understood that when an element is described as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to other elements, and intervening elements may appear. Conversely, when an element is described as being "directly connected" or "directly coupled" to another component, there are no intermediate components. Other terms used to describe the relationship between elements can also be interpreted in a similar manner, such as "between" versus "directly between", or "adjacent" versus "directly adjacent" and so on.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing that P/E Cycle and TBW information can be retained in a low-level formatting method of a storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the embodiment of the present invention suitable for low-level formatting of RDT firmware or system firmware (System Firmware), which is modified from the existing flow in FIG. 2c. Among them, step S32 in the embodiment of the present invention is continued after step S21 in FIG. 2c. First, in step S32, a search is made for whether there is an RDT test result (pre-RDT result) or a firmware storage information (pre-WS sblock) in the NAND storage block of the SSD. The firmware storage information may include a P/E Cycle (P/E Cycle) record and a Write Terabyte (TBW) record of the storage device. The RDT test result is a record generated after the SSD finishes the RDT test. If the RDT test result exists, it means that the SSD has just been printed and the RDT test has been completed but has not been used. If the firmware storage information exists, it means that the SSD has a history of use, and the firmware storage information refers to the SSD that has been returned or sent for repair by the user due to quality issues or other factors after the user has used it. Information stored in it. In other words, for the SSD in use, the whole system firmware (Whole System Firmware) will write the SSD's latest erasing and writing times and the value written in megabytes into the storage block at regular intervals to integrate into the firmware. Store information. By regularly updating the above parameter values, after the SSD is powered off and re-powered, the latest parameter values of the SSD can be obtained from the storage block that records the latest erasing and writing times and the megabyte parameters written, so that it can be inherited The latest parameter information of SSD.

If none of the RDT test results and the firmware storage information can be found in step S32, it means that the SSD may have just finished printing, has not yet been RDT, and has not been used. At this time, the process proceeds to step S36, the default values of P/E Cycle and TBW of the SSD (the default value is 0) are written into the storage block of the storage device, and the process ends. It must be noted that after the end of the process in Figure 3, what is to be done is the following existing low-level formatting steps in Figure 2c, including checking the damaged NAND blocks (step S22) and selecting the calibration data pulse phase (calibrate DQS phase) (Step S23), and update the relevant parameters (damaged block, selected pulse phase) to the firmware, and write the updated firmware to NAND (write updated firmware to NAND) (Step S24) and so on. Since the above-mentioned subsequent low-level formatting steps are not the focus of the present invention, the description is omitted.

In step S32, if the RDT test result or the firmware storage information already exists in the NAND storage block, the flow proceeds to step S33 to confirm the erasing and writing times record and the writing megabytes Validity of records. The validity here refers to whether the record of the number of erasing and writing and the record of written megabytes can be recognized by the system firmware; if not, it means that the version of the system firmware is too old and needs to be updated to Supports the version of the erasing times record and the written megabyte record. Then, the flow proceeds to step S34 to determine whether a P/E cycle and a write megabyte of the storage device are recorded in the erase/write count record and the write megabyte record. Bytes (TBW). If there is a record, the process proceeds to step S35, and the recorded values of P/E Cycle and TBW are written into the storage block of the storage device; if there is no record, it means that the SSD has no use record, so the process proceeds Go to step S36, write the preset values of the P/E Cycle and TBW of the storage device (the preset value is 0) into the storage block of the storage device. Through the low-level formatting method described in the embodiment of the present invention, the SSD can retain its latest P/E Cycle and TBW information after being used, regardless of several RDT tests or low-level formatting. Therefore, the user can know the true life cycle of the SSD, and can back up data and replace the storage device early before the end of the SSD life, so as to avoid irreversible data loss.

The flow chart executed in FIG. 3 of the present invention is mainly to ensure that the P/E Cycle and TBW information will not be lost during the process of low-level formatting or RDT testing. However, before the process of FIG. 3 is executed, the system firmware (Whole System Firmware) and the RDT firmware can respectively execute the method flow chart to generate the firmware storage information and the RDT test result respectively, as detailed below.

4 is a flow chart of the whole system firmware (Whole System Firmware) generating the firmware storage information in a low-level formatting method of a storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As mentioned earlier, when the SSD is in use, the system firmware will write P/E Cycle, TBW and other information into different blocks of NAND for backup at regular intervals. Therefore, before performing the low-level formatting described in the embodiment of the present invention, the system firmware first reads the storage block of the SSD (step S41). Then, the system firmware obtains the P/E Cycle record and the write terabyte (TBW) record at the latest time point of the SSD from the storage block (step S42). Finally, the system firmware writes the acquired P/E Cycle record and the written terabyte (TBW) record back to a predetermined storage block among the plurality of storage blocks , To generate the firmware storage information (step S43). According to the method flow shown in Figure 4, if low-level formatting is required later, the system firmware can generate the firmware storage information in the case of low-level formatting to open the system firmware (Whole System Firmware) for subsequent use. The low-level formatting process (Figure 3) is read and used. In addition, the flow chart of FIG. 4 of the present invention is modified from the existing flow of FIG. 2b, and is specifically shown in FIG. 5. That is, the steps S42 and S43 operate in parallel with the existing steps of "main controller read operation", "main controller write operation", and "garbage collection operation". Accordingly, the whole system firmware (Whole System Firmware) can simultaneously perform steps S42 and S43 while performing the existing steps to generate the firmware storage information at the same time, and then use the low-level formatting program of FIG. 3 according to The firmware storage information performs low-level formatting of the SSD. Therefore, the process of generating the firmware storage information in the embodiment of the present invention does not affect the execution of the existing steps at all, and therefore does not increase any cost. Of course, it must be noted that the low-level formatting program in Figure 3 only inherits the P/E Cycle and TBW information. After the process in Figure 3 ends, the subsequent existing formatting program is performed, that is, Figure 2c "Check NAND damaged blocks", "Select pulse phase of calibration data" and "Write updated firmware to NAND" etc., so that the entire low-level formatting process of the SSD is completed.

6 is a flow chart of the RDT firmware generating the RDT test result in a low-level formatting method of a storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention. First, the RDT firmware reads the storage block of the storage device (step S61). Then, the RDT firmware obtains the P/E Cycle (P/E Cycle) record and the Write Terabyte (TBW) record from the storage block (step S62). Finally, the RDT firmware integrates the acquired record of the number of times of erasing and writing and the record of written megabytes into the RDT test result (step S63). Similarly, the flow chart of FIG. 6 of the present invention is modified from the existing flow of FIG. 2a, and the details are shown in FIG. 7. That is, the steps S62 and S63 operate in parallel to the existing steps of "testing NAND quality" and "writing NAND test quality into the reliability and life cycle test results". Accordingly, the RDT firmware can simultaneously perform steps S62 and S63 while performing the existing steps, so as to simultaneously integrate the P/E Cycle, TBW information, and NAND test quality into the RDT test result. Inside. If low-level formatting is required later, the low-level formatting program shown in FIG. 3 will then perform low-level formatting of the SSD according to the RDT test result. Therefore, the process of integrating P/E Cycle and TBW information in the embodiment of the present invention does not affect the process of generating the existing RDT test results at all, and therefore does not increase any cost. Of course, it must be noted that the low-level formatting program in Figure 3 only inherits the P/E Cycle and TBW information. After the process in Figure 3 ends, the existing formatting program is performed, that is, the one in Figure 2c. Steps such as "checking NAND damaged blocks", "selecting the pulse phase of calibration data" and "writing the updated firmware to NAND", so that the entire low-level formatting process of the SSD is completed.

In summary, the low-level formatting method of the embodiment of the present invention only adds certain steps (S42 and S43) to the existing firmware flow of the system in Figure 2b, and can generate the firmware in synchronization with the existing steps. The low-level formatted firmware then further performs low-level formatting based on the firmware stored information, so that the inheritance of important information parameters during the low-level formatting can be achieved without increasing costs at all. Similarly, the low-level formatting method of the present invention only adds some steps (S62 and S63) to the existing RDT firmware process of FIG. The low-level formatting firmware further performs low-level formatting according to the RDT test result, so that the inheritance of important information parameters during the low-level formatting can be realized without increasing the cost.

Accordingly, the low-level formatting method of the embodiment of the present invention can indeed faithfully reflect the P/E Cycle, TBW and other information during the entire cycle life of the SSD, in addition to avoiding users from misjudging the service life of the SSD. In addition to causing irreparable data loss, it can also be applied to user return (RMA) disks, so that when repairing the returned disks, the true usage of the SSD can be inquired as a basis for providing product warranty.

All or part of the steps in the method of the present invention can be implemented by a computer program, such as a computer operating system, a specific hardware driver in the computer, or a software program. In addition, it can also be implemented in other types of programs as shown above. Those with ordinary knowledge in the technical field can write the method of the embodiment of the present invention into a computer program, which will not be described for the sake of brevity. The computer program implemented according to the method of the embodiment of the present invention can be stored in a suitable computer readable medium, such as DVD, CD-ROM, USB, hard disk, or placed on a network (such as the Internet, or other suitable carrier). ) To access the web server.

Although the above-described components are included in the drawings of this application, it does not rule out that, without violating the spirit of the invention, more other additional components are used to achieve better technical effects. In addition, although the flowchart of this application is executed in a specified order, those skilled in the art can modify the order of these steps on the premise of achieving the same effect without violating the spirit of the invention. Therefore, this The invention is not limited to using only the sequence described above. In addition, those skilled in the art can also integrate several steps into one step, or perform more steps sequentially or in parallel in addition to these steps, and the present invention is not limited thereby.

Although the present invention is described using the above embodiments, it should be noted that these descriptions are not intended to limit the present invention. On the contrary, this invention covers modifications and similar arrangements obvious to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope of the patent application must be interpreted in the broadest way to include all obvious modifications and similar settings.

S21~S24: steps S31~S36: steps S41~S43: steps S61~S63: steps

The drawings described here are used to provide a further understanding of the application and constitute a part of the application. The exemplary embodiments and descriptions of the application are used to explain the application, and do not constitute an improper limitation of the application. Fig. 1a is a schematic diagram of reading the configuration file of the existing SSD system firmware. Figure 1b is a schematic diagram of the low-level formatting of the RDT firmware of an existing SSD. Figure 1c is a schematic diagram of a low-level formatting system firmware of an existing SSD. Figure 2a is a flow chart of the low-level formatting of the existing SSD to open the RDT firmware. Figure 2b is a flow chart of the low-level formatting of the existing SSD's operating system firmware. Figure 2c is a flow chart of the low-level format operation of the existing SSD. 3 is a flowchart of a low-level formatting method for a storage device according to an embodiment of the invention. 4 is a flow chart of the system firmware generating the firmware storage information in a low-level formatting method for a storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a combination diagram of a system firmware process and an existing process in a low-level formatting method for a storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flow chart of the RDT firmware generating the RDT test result in a low-level formatting method of a storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a combination diagram of the RDT firmware process and the existing process in a low-level formatting method for a storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

S31~S36: steps

Claims (10)

A low-level formatting method for a storage device, the storage device having a plurality of storage blocks, including: Search whether there is a reliability and life cycle test result or firmware storage information in the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device, where the reliability and life cycle test result and the firmware storage The information includes a record of the number of erasing and writing of the storage device and a record of written megabytes; If the reliability and life cycle test result or the firmware storage information exists in the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device, determine the number of erasing and writing records and the writing megabyte In the record, whether a number of erasing and writing and a writing megabyte of the storage device are recorded; If the reliability and life cycle test results and the firmware storage information do not exist in the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device, the number of erasing and writing of the storage device and the writing The preset value of the megabyte group is written into the storage block of the storage device; If the erasing and writing times and the writing megabytes of the storage device are recorded in the erasing and writing times record and the writing megabytes record, then the recorded erasing and writing times and writing are recorded The value of one megabyte is written into the storage block of the storage device; and If the erasing and writing times and the writing megabytes of the storage device are not recorded in the erasing and writing times record and the writing megabytes record, the erasing of the storage device is The write times and the preset value of the write megabyte are written into the storage block of the storage device. The low-level formatting method of the storage device according to claim 1, further comprising: confirming the validity of the record of erasing and writing times and the record of written megabytes. The low-level formatting method of the storage device as described in claim 1 further includes: Read the storage block of the storage device; Obtaining the erasing and writing times record and the writing megabyte record from the storage block of the storage device; and The obtained record of the number of erasing and writing and the record of writing megabytes are integrated into the reliability and life cycle test results. The low-level formatting method for a storage device according to claim 1, wherein, in the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device, records of the number of erasing and writing times of the storage device at different time points and In the writing of the megabyte record, the method further includes: Read the storage block of the storage device; Obtaining the record of the number of times of erasing and writing and the record of written megabytes at the latest point in time of the storage device; and Write the acquired record of the number of times of erasing and writing and the record of writing megabytes back to a predetermined storage block of the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device to generate the firmware storage information . The low-level formatting method for a storage device according to claim 1, wherein the storage device is a flash memory storage device. The low-level formatting method of a storage device according to claim 3, wherein, in the process of obtaining and writing the erasing and writing times record and the writing megabyte record, the low-level of the storage device The formatting method also includes: Testing the multiple storage blocks of the storage device; and Write the test results of the multiple storage blocks into the reliability and life cycle test results. The low-level formatting method of a storage device according to claim 6, wherein the test results of the plurality of storage blocks, the record of the number of erasing and writing, and the record of writing megabytes are integrated into the reliable Performance and life cycle test results. A storage device, the storage device includes a processor and a plurality of storage blocks, the processor executes a low-level formatting method, the low-level formatting method includes: Search whether there is a reliability and life cycle test result or firmware storage information in the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device, where the reliability and life cycle test result and the firmware storage The information includes a record of the number of erasing and writing of the storage device and a record of written megabytes; If the reliability and life cycle test result or the firmware storage information exists in the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device, determine the number of erasing and writing records and the writing megabyte In the record, whether a number of erasing and writing and a writing megabyte of the storage device are recorded; If the reliability and life cycle test results and the firmware storage information do not exist in the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device, the number of erasing and writing of the storage device and the writing The preset value of the megabyte group is written into the storage block of the storage device; If the erasing and writing times and the writing megabytes of the storage device are recorded in the erasing and writing times record and the writing megabytes record, then the recorded erasing and writing times and writing are recorded The value of one megabyte is written into the storage block of the storage device; and If the erasing and writing times and the writing megabytes of the storage device are not recorded in the erasing and writing times record and the writing megabytes record, the erasing of the storage device is The writing times and the preset value of the writing megabyte group are written into the storage block of the storage device. The storage device according to claim 8, wherein the low-level formatting method further comprises: confirming the validity of the record of the number of times of erasing and writing and the record of written megabytes. The storage device according to claim 8, wherein the test results of the plurality of storage blocks, the record of the number of erasing and writing, and the record of written megabytes are integrated into the reliability and life cycle test result.

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