Articles by subject: embedded storage

QSPI NOR Flash Part 2 – Memory Organization

In this article we’ll leave the package attributes behind to focus on the internal features of QSPI devices, starting with the memory organization. This article will cover the overall capacity, multi-stack devices as well as the memory map organization units such as pages, blocks and sectors.

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QSPI NOR Flash Part 1 – Hardware Characteristics

In this first article, we’ll go over some important considerations to keep in mind when using a NOR for code shadowing or execute in place, and explain how these considerations may change when using the NOR for data storage with a file system. Then we’ll take a quick look at the hardware characteristics of QSPI NOR devices.

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NOR vs NAND: So You Think You Know the Music?

In-depth comparison between NOR and NAND covering aspects of NOR and NAND flash technologies that, in our view, are too often ignored including the impact of the application requirements on the choice of Flash technology.

Read More »
Road leading to an SD Card shaped sunrise.

Managed vs Unmanaged: The Many Roads to Flash Storage

Let’s explore and compare two different paradigms of flash management commonly used throughout the industry: managed flash and unmanaged flash. Managed flash devices include SD cards, USB flash drives, eMMC and UFS modules — also SSDs, but those are less often seen in embedded systems. These are all NAND-based devices.

Read More »

Taming the Flash Beast

This article is the first of an introduction series about flash memory with a focus on embedded systems designs using an embedded file system. A high-level introduction shall we say. Not the kind that takes you straight to the electron and drags you through the depths of quantum physics. No. The purpose of this series

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Timing diagram of various high-level failures that could break the coherence of a data logging application.

Fail-Safe Storage with the TREEspan File System Part 3: Enforcing Coherence Through Transactions

In this article, we show that TSFS transactions go beyond preserving file-level integrity, and can also be used to enforce coherence across multiple files and directories. To support the discussion, we present a real-life application example and demonstrate how a single additional call to tsfs_commit() is all that is needed to make the code immune to unexpected failures.

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Time diagram of the protection afforded by a transactional file system against various unexpected failure points during a file update.

Fail-Safe Storage with the TREEspan File System Part 2: TSFS Transactions

In this second article in this series we see how an application can be designed to withstand such unforeseen events, using TSFS transactions. Doing so, we introduce the tsfs_commit() API. We also discuss the write transaction atomicity property, by which applications can be safely designed ignoring potential partial update issues.

Read More »
Time diagram of various file system unexpected failures and their impact on data and metadata corruption.

Fail-Safe Storage with the TREEspan File System Part 1: Introduction

This is the first article of a three-part series on fail-safe, storage-related application design using an embedded file system. The first part of the series lays out the fundamental problem of unexpected failures and briefly discusses partial solutions. The second part introduces how a fail-safe transactional file system such as the TREEspan File System (TSFS)

Read More »
TreeSpan File System (TSFS) logo.

Introducing TREEspan File System

Last week was one of pride and excitement for the JBLopen’s development team as we released our latest product, the TREEspan File System (TSFS). After the official announcement and presentation, we feel the need to introduce the newcomer in a more personal way, such as we see it from the inside. Above all, we would

Read More »

Articles by subject: embedded storage

QSPI NOR Flash Part 2 – Memory Organization

In this article we’ll leave the package attributes behind to focus on the internal features of QSPI devices, starting with the memory organization. This article will cover the overall capacity, multi-stack devices as well as the memory map organization units such as pages, blocks and sectors.

Read More »

QSPI NOR Flash Part 1 – Hardware Characteristics

In this first article, we’ll go over some important considerations to keep in mind when using a NOR for code shadowing or execute in place, and explain how these considerations may change when using the NOR for data storage with a file system. Then we’ll take a quick look at the hardware characteristics of QSPI NOR devices.

Read More »

NOR vs NAND: So You Think You Know the Music?

In-depth comparison between NOR and NAND covering aspects of NOR and NAND flash technologies that, in our view, are too often ignored including the impact of the application requirements on the choice of Flash technology.

Read More »
Road leading to an SD Card shaped sunrise.

Managed vs Unmanaged: The Many Roads to Flash Storage

Let’s explore and compare two different paradigms of flash management commonly used throughout the industry: managed flash and unmanaged flash. Managed flash devices include SD cards, USB flash drives, eMMC and UFS modules — also SSDs, but those are less often seen in embedded systems. These are all NAND-based devices.

Read More »

Taming the Flash Beast

This article is the first of an introduction series about flash memory with a focus on embedded systems designs using an embedded file system. A high-level introduction shall we say. Not the kind that takes you straight to the electron and drags you through the depths of quantum physics. No. The purpose of this series

Read More »
Timing diagram of various high-level failures that could break the coherence of a data logging application.

Fail-Safe Storage with the TREEspan File System Part 3: Enforcing Coherence Through Transactions

In this article, we show that TSFS transactions go beyond preserving file-level integrity, and can also be used to enforce coherence across multiple files and directories. To support the discussion, we present a real-life application example and demonstrate how a single additional call to tsfs_commit() is all that is needed to make the code immune to unexpected failures.

Read More »
Time diagram of the protection afforded by a transactional file system against various unexpected failure points during a file update.

Fail-Safe Storage with the TREEspan File System Part 2: TSFS Transactions

In this second article in this series we see how an application can be designed to withstand such unforeseen events, using TSFS transactions. Doing so, we introduce the tsfs_commit() API. We also discuss the write transaction atomicity property, by which applications can be safely designed ignoring potential partial update issues.

Read More »
Time diagram of various file system unexpected failures and their impact on data and metadata corruption.

Fail-Safe Storage with the TREEspan File System Part 1: Introduction

This is the first article of a three-part series on fail-safe, storage-related application design using an embedded file system. The first part of the series lays out the fundamental problem of unexpected failures and briefly discusses partial solutions. The second part introduces how a fail-safe transactional file system such as the TREEspan File System (TSFS)

Read More »
TreeSpan File System (TSFS) logo.

Introducing TREEspan File System

Last week was one of pride and excitement for the JBLopen’s development team as we released our latest product, the TREEspan File System (TSFS). After the official announcement and presentation, we feel the need to introduce the newcomer in a more personal way, such as we see it from the inside. Above all, we would

Read More »