Unmap to initialize sectors
AssigneeHewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP
InventorsSiamak Nazari, Thomas David Evans, Faris Hindi, Daniel Aaron Harbaugh, Anahita Afkham
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In some examples, sectors of a solid-state drive are unmapped to initialize the sectors. The sectors include a data portion and a protection portion. When an unmapped sector is read, the solid-state drive can return a pre-set value for the unmapped sector, where the pre-set value includes a known fixed value to represent the protection portion of the unmapped sector. The storage controller is to recognize the known fixed value returned by the solid-state drive responsive to the read as representing the unmapped sector as being initialized, but not written to.
Claims18
A storage system comprising:
- a solid-state drive comprising a plurality of sectors, each sector of the plurality of sectors to include a data portion and a protection portion,
- wherein the solid-state drive is to support an unmap command to mark a sector of the plurality of sectors as not being in use;
- and
- a storage controller to unmap, using the unmap command, a first sector of the solid-state drive to initialize the first sector,
- wherein the storage controller is to unmap, using the unmap command, the first sector by changing metadata of the solid-state drive without writing to the first sector,
- wherein the solid-state drive is to, responsive to a read of the unmapped first sector, return a pre-set value for a respective data portion and a respective protection portion of the unmapped first sector, wherein the pre-set value includes an 8 byte known fixed value of 00 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF for the respective protection portion of the unmapped first sector, and
- wherein the storage controller is to recognize the known fixed value returned by the solid-state drive responsive to the read as representing the unmapped first sector as being initialized, but not written to.
A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions that upon execution cause a storage controller to:
- select a solid-state drive separate from the storage controller to use for a virtual storage space, wherein the solid-state drive comprises a plurality of sectors, and each sector of the plurality of sectors includes a data portion and a protection portion, and wherein the solid-state drive supports an unmap command to mark sectors as not being in use;
- unmap, by issuing the unmap command from the storage controller to the solid-state drive, a first sector of the solid-state drive to initialize the first sector for the virtual storage space by changing metadata of the sold-state drive without writing to the first sector;
- in response to a read of the unmapped first sector, receive a pre-set value returned by the solid-state drive, the pre-set value comprising a first value for a respective data portion of the unmapped first sector and comprising an 8 byte known fixed value of 00 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF for a respective protection portion of the unmapped first sector;
- and
- determine, based on the known fixed value returned by the solid-state drive responsive to the read, that the unmapped first sector is initialized but not written to.
A method comprising:
- accessing, by a computing device, a storage device separate from the computing device in response to an input/output request, wherein the storage device comprises a plurality of sectors, and each sector of the plurality of sectors includes a data portion and a protection portion, and wherein the storage device supports an unmap command to mark sectors of the plurality of sectors as not being in use;
- unmapping, by the computing device by issuing the unmap command to the storage device, a first sector of the storage device to initialize the first sector, wherein the unmapping of the first sector based on issuing the unmap command comprises changing metadata of the storage device without writing to the first sector;
- in response to a read of the unmapped first sector, receiving, by the computing device, a pre-set value returned by the storage device, the pre-set value comprising a first value for a respective data portion of the unmapped first sector and comprising an 8 byte known fixed value of 00 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF for a respective protection portion of the unmapped first sector;
- and
- determining, by the computing device based on the known fixed value returned by the storage device responsive to the read, that the unmapped first sector is initialized but not written to.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.