TW202203029A - 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, and more particularly, to a low-level formatting method of a flash memory storage device.

Solid State Drive (Solid State Disk or Solid State Drive, referred to as SSD) is commonly known as solid state hard disk, and solid state hard disk is a hard disk made of a solid-state electronic storage chip array. The P/E (Program-Erase) Cycle of SSD refers to the number of times of erasing and writing of the storage medium NAND in the SSD, while TBW (Terabyte Write, writing terabytes) refers to the entire life cycle of the SSD. The number of megabytes available for writing. Both of the two parameters are indicators to measure the lifespan of the SSD.

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

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

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

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

In addition, before the SSD is shipped, the mode of opening the RDT firmware in the low-level format shown in FIG. 1b will be performed first, and then the mode of opening the system firmware (Whole System Firmware) shown in FIG. 1c will be performed. However, during the detection process of the RDT firmware of FIG. 1b, the detection of the block needs to perform read and write operations, so the originally written data will be destroyed (as shown in FIG. 1b with strikethrough) , so the P/E Cycle and TBW information will disappear. As a result, for the SSD under Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA), the previous P/E Cycle and TBW information of the SSD cannot be inherited after the low-level format is performed again.

Furthermore, if the SSD is 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 (described in the The information is deleted after the RDT firmware detection process in Figure 1b), so the life cycle of the SSD that the user knows is not the real life cycle, so the data is not backed up before the real life of the SSD ends, resulting in Irretrievable data loss.

In view of this, how to still inherit the previous P/E Cycle and TBW information of SSD after low-level formatting, so that users can know the real P/E Cycle and TBW of SSD and avoid data loss, it is really Issues to be resolved.

The present invention relates to a low-level formatting method for a storage device, wherein the storage device has a plurality of storage blocks, and the low-level formatting method comprises: searching whether there is a storage block in the storage device. Reliability and life cycle test results or a firmware storage information, the reliability and life cycle test results and the firmware storage information both include a record of the number of times of erasing and writing and a written megabyte of the storage device record; if the reliability and life cycle test results or the firmware storage information exist in the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device, determine the record of the number of times of erasing and writing and the written megabit In the tuple record, whether an erasing and writing times 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 The result and the firmware storage information, set the erasing and writing times of the storage device and the value of the write megabyte as 0 (default value), and write all the data in the storage device. the storage block; if the number of times of erasing and writing and the record of writing megabytes are recorded in the number of times of erasing and writing and the record of writing megabytes, the recorded The number of times of erasing and the value of writing megabytes are written into the storage block of the storage device; and if the number of times of erasing and the value of writing megabytes are not recorded in the storage device The number of times of erasing and writing and the value of the writing megabyte set are set to 0 (the default value) for the number of times of erasing and writing and the value of the writing megabyte set of the storage device, and write into the storage block of the storage device.

The present invention further relates to a storage device comprising 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 record of times of erasing and writing and the record of writing megabytes.

Wherein, the low-level formatting method of the storage device further comprises: 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 megabyte records; and integrating the obtained erasing and writing times records and the writing megabyte records into the reliability and life cycle test results.

Wherein, in the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device, the records of the number of times of erasing and writing and the records of writing megabytes 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 record of the number of times of erasing and writing and the record of writing megabytes at the latest time point of the storage device; and the obtained erasing and writing The times 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 record of the number of times of erasing and writing and the record of writing megabytes, the test results of the plurality of storage blocks, the record of the number of times of erasing and writing, and the writing The terabyte records will be consolidated into the reliability and life cycle test results.

Wherein, in the process of obtaining and writing the record of the number of times of erasing and writing and the record of writing megabytes 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.

The embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the related drawings. In the figures, the same reference numbers refer to the same or similar elements or method flows.

It must be understood that words such as "comprising" and "comprising" used in this specification are used to indicate the existence of specific technical features, values, method steps, operation processes, elements and/or elements, but do not exclude the possibility of Plus more technical features, values, method steps, job processes, elements, elements, or any combination of the above.

The use of words such as "first", "second", "third", etc. in the present invention is used to modify the elements in the claims, and is not used to indicate that there is a priority order, a precedence relationship, or that an element comes first relative to another element, or the chronological order in which method steps are performed, 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 the other element, and intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is described as being "directly connected" or "directly coupled" to another component, there are no intervening components present. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements may also be read in a similar fashion, such as "between" versus "directly interposed," or "adjacent" versus "directly adjoining," and the like.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of P/E Cycle and TBW information that can be retained in a low-level format method of a storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a low-level format suitable for opening RDT firmware or system firmware (System Firmware) according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is modified from the existing process in FIG. 2c. Wherein, step S32 in the embodiment of the present invention is continued after step S21 in FIG. 2c. First, in step S32, search 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 RDT test result and all The firmware storage information may include a P/E Cycle record and a terabyte write (TBW) record of the storage device. The RDT test result is a record generated after the SSD completes the RDT test. If the RDT test result exists, it means that the SSD is just finished, and the RDT test is completed but not used. If the firmware storage information exists, it means that the SSD has a usage record, and the firmware storage information refers to the SSD that has been returned or sent for repair by the user due to quality problems or other factors after the SSD has been used by the user. information stored in it. In other words, for the SSD in use, the system firmware (Whole System Firmware) will write the latest erasing and writing times of the SSD and the value written in megabytes into the storage block at regular intervals to form the firmware. Save information. By regularly updating the above parameter values, the latest parameter values of the SSD can be obtained from the storage block that records the latest erasing and writing times and the parameters of the megabytes written after the SSD is powered off and then powered on again. The latest parameter information of SSD.

If both the RDT test result and the firmware storage information cannot be found in step S32, it means that the SSD may have just finished printing, and the RDT has not been performed or used. At this time, the flow proceeds to step S36, and the default values (the default values are 0) of the P/E Cycle and TBW of the SSD are written into the storage block of the storage device, and the flow ends. It must be noted that after the process shown in FIG. 3 is completed, the subsequent low-level formatting steps in FIG. 2c are performed, including checking the damaged NAND blocks (step S22 ), and calibrating the data selection pulse phase (calibrate DQS phase). (step S23), and update the relevant parameters (damaged blocks, selection 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 storage block of the NAND, the process proceeds to step S33 to confirm the record of the number of times of erasing and writing and the written megabytes Validity of records. The validity here refers to whether the record of erasing and writing times and the record of writing megabytes can be identified by the system firmware; if not, it means that the version of the system firmware is too old and needs to be updated to be able to Versions of the erase count record and the write megabyte record are supported. Next, the process proceeds to step S34, and it is judged whether the number of erasing and writing (P/E Cycle) and one writing megabyte record of the storage device are recorded in the record of times of erasing and writing and the record of writing megabytes 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 usage record, so the process proceeds to Go to step S36, write the default values of the P/E Cycle and TBW of the storage device (the default value is 0) into the storage block of the storage device. Through the low-level formatting method described in the embodiments of the present invention, the SSD can retain its latest P/E Cycle and TBW information after several RDT tests or low-level formatting after use. Therefore, the user can know the real life cycle of the SSD, and can back up the data and replace the storage device as soon as possible before the life of the SSD expires, so as to avoid irreversible data loss.

The above-mentioned flowchart shown in FIG. 3 of the present invention mainly ensures that the P/E Cycle and TBW information will not be lost during the process of low-level formatting or RDT testing. However, before executing the process of FIG. 3 , the system firmware (Whole System Firmware) and the RDT firmware can respectively execute their method flow charts to generate the firmware storage information and the RDT test results respectively, which are described in detail below.

4 is a flowchart of a 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 above, when the SSD is in use, the system firmware will write P/E Cycle, TBW and other information into different blocks of the NAND at regular intervals for backup. Therefore, before executing the low-level format described in the embodiment of the present invention, the system firmware first reads the storage blocks of the SSD (step S41 ). Next, the system firmware obtains the P/E Cycle record and the Terabyte Write (TBW) record at the latest time point of the SSD from the storage block (step S42 ). Finally, the system firmware writes the obtained P/E Cycle record and the terabyte write (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 FIG. 4 , if the low-level formatting is required later, the system firmware can generate the firmware storage information in the case of opening the system firmware (Whole System Firmware) in the low-level formatting for subsequent The low-level formatting process (Figure 3) is used to read. In addition, the flow chart of FIG. 4 of the present invention is modified from the existing flow of FIG. 2 b , and is specifically shown in FIG. 5 . That is, the steps S42 and S43 are operated in parallel with the existing steps of "main controller read operation", "main controller write operation" and "garbage collection operation". Accordingly, the system firmware (Whole System Firmware) can simultaneously perform steps S42 and S43 while performing the existing steps, so as to generate the firmware storage information at the same time, and then use the low-level formatter of FIG. 3 according to The firmware stores information for 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 formatter in Figure 3 only inherits the P/E Cycle and TBW information. After the process in Figure 3 ends, the existing formatter will be executed, that is, Figure 2c "Check NAND damaged blocks", "Calibrate data selection pulse phase" and "Write updated firmware to NAND" and other steps. Only in this way can the entire SSD low-level format process be completed.

6 is a flowchart of the RDT test result generated by the RDT firmware in a low-level format 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). Next, the RDT firmware obtains the P/E Cycle record and the Terabyte Write (TBW) record from the storage block (step S62 ). Finally, the RDT firmware integrates the obtained record of erasing and writing times and the record of writing megabytes into the RDT test result (step S63). Likewise, the flow chart of FIG. 6 of the present invention is modified from the existing flow chart of FIG. 2 a , and is specifically shown in FIG. 7 . That is, the steps S62 and S63 operate in parallel with the existing steps of "testing the NAND quality" and "writing the test quality of the NAND 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 of FIG. 3 is used to perform low-level formatting of the SSD according to the RDT test result. Therefore, the process of integrating the 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 formatter in Figure 3 only inherits the P/E Cycle and TBW information. After the process in Figure 3 ends, the existing formatter is executed, that is, the format in Figure 2c. Steps such as "checking damaged blocks in NAND", "calibrating data selection pulse phase" and "writing updated firmware to NAND" are the steps to complete the low-level formatting process of the entire SSD.

To sum up, the low-level formatting method according to the embodiment of the present invention only adds some steps (S42 and S43) to the existing firmware flow of the system shown in FIG. 2b, so that the firmware can be generated in synchronization with the existing steps. Then, the low-level format firmware further performs low-level format according to the firmware storage information, so that the inheritance of important information parameters during the low-level format can be realized in a manner that does not increase the cost at all. Similarly, the low-level formatting method of the present invention only adds some steps (S62 and S63) to the existing RDT firmware flow in FIG. 2a, so that the RDT test results can be generated in synchronization with the existing steps, and then 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 in a manner that does not increase the cost at all.

Accordingly, the low-level formatting method according to the embodiment of the present invention can faithfully reflect information such as P/E Cycle, TBW, etc. of the SSD during the entire life cycle of the SSD. In addition to causing irreparable data loss, it can also be applied to the magnetic disc returned by the user (RMA), so that when the returned magnetic disc is repaired, the real 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 an operating system of a computer, a driver program of specific hardware in the computer, or a software program. In addition, other types of programs as shown above can also be implemented. Those skilled in the art 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 by the method according to the embodiment of the present invention can be stored in a suitable computer-readable medium, such as DVD, CD-ROM, USB, hard disk, or can be stored in a network (for example, the Internet, or other suitable carrier) ) to access the web server.

Although the above-described components are included in the drawings of the present application, it is not excluded that more other additional components can be used to achieve better technical effects without departing from the spirit of the invention. In addition, although the flowcharts of the present application are executed in the 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 in addition to these steps, perform more steps sequentially or in parallel, 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 is to be construed in the broadest possible manner to encompass all obvious modifications and similar arrangements.

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

The drawings described herein are used to provide further understanding of the present application and constitute a part of the present application. The schematic embodiments and descriptions of the present application are used to explain the present application and do not constitute an improper limitation of the present application. FIG. 1a is a schematic diagram of a conventional SSD system firmware reading a configuration file. FIG. 1b is a schematic diagram of a low-level format and RDT firmware of a conventional SSD. FIG. 1c is a schematic diagram of a conventional low-level format system firmware of an SSD. FIG. 2a is a flow chart of the operation of the conventional low-level format and RDT firmware of the SSD. FIG. 2b is a flow chart of the operation of the existing low-level format of the SSD to open the system firmware. FIG. 2c is a flow chart of the operation of the low-level format of the conventional SSD. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a low-level formatting method of a storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a flowchart of the 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. FIG. 5 is a combination diagram of a system firmware process and an existing process in a low-level format method of a storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart of the RDT test result generated by the RDT firmware in a low-level format method of a storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a combination diagram of the process of the RDT firmware and the existing process in a low-level format method of 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 has a plurality of storage blocks, comprising: Searching whether there is a reliability and life cycle test result or a firmware storage information in the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device, wherein the reliability and life cycle test result and the firmware storage The information includes a record of the number of times of erasing and writing and a record of writing megabytes of the storage device; If the reliability and life cycle test results or the firmware storage information exist in the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device, determine the record of the number of times of erasing and writing and the written megabyte group In the record, whether there is a record of a number of times of erasing and writing and a written megabyte of the storage device; 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 times of erasing and writing and the writing of the storage device are writing a default value of megabytes to the storage block of the storage device; If the number of times of erasing and writing and the record of writing megabytes are recorded in the number of times of erasing and writing and the record of writing megabytes, the recorded number of times of erasing and writing and writing writing megabytes of values into the storage block of the storage device; and If the erasing times and the writing megabytes of the storage device are not recorded in the erasing times record and the writing megabyte record, the erasing times and the writing megabytes of the storage device are not recorded. The number of writes and the default values of the write megabytes are written into the storage block of the storage device. The low-level formatting method for a storage device according to claim 1, further comprising: confirming the validity of the record of times of erasing and writing and the record of writing megabytes. The low-level formatting method for a storage device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: reading the storage block of the storage device; obtaining the record of the number of times of erasing and writing and the record of writing megabytes from the storage block of the storage device; and The obtained records of erasing and writing times and the records 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 the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device store the records of the number of times of erasing and writing of the storage device at different time points and The described writing megabyte record, the method further includes: reading the storage block of the storage device; obtaining the record of the number of times of erasing and writing and the record of writing megabytes at the latest time point of the storage device; and writing the obtained record of erasing and writing times and the record of writing megabytes back to a predetermined storage block in the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device to generate the firmware storage information . The low-level formatting method of 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 formatting of the storage device Formatting methods also include: testing the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device; and Writing the test results of the plurality of 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 times 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, and the low-level formatting method includes: Searching whether there is a reliability and life cycle test result or a firmware storage information in the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device, wherein the reliability and life cycle test result and the firmware storage The information includes a record of the number of times of erasing and writing and a record of writing megabytes of the storage device; If the reliability and life cycle test results or the firmware storage information exist in the plurality of storage blocks of the storage device, determine the record of the number of times of erasing and writing and the written megabyte group In the record, whether there is a record of a number of times of erasing and writing and a written megabyte of the storage device; 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 times of erasing and writing and the writing of the storage device are writing a default value of megabytes to the storage block of the storage device; If the number of times of erasing and writing and the record of writing megabytes are recorded in the number of times of erasing and writing and the record of writing megabytes, the recorded number of times of erasing and writing and writing writing megabytes of values into the storage block of the storage device; and If the erasing times and the writing megabytes of the storage device are not recorded in the erasing times record and the writing megabyte record, the erasing times and the writing megabytes of the storage device are not recorded. The number of writes and the default values of the write megabytes are written into the storage block of the storage device. The storage device of claim 8, wherein the low-level formatting method further comprises: confirming the validity of the record of times of erasing and writing and the record of writing megabytes. The storage device of claim 8, wherein the test results of the plurality of storage blocks, the record of the number of times of erasing and writing, and the record of writing megabytes are integrated into the reliability and life cycle test result.

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