Systems and methods for identifying storage resources that are not in use
AssigneeFusion-Io, Inc.
InventorsDavid Flynn, Jonathan Thatcher, Michael Zappe
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for managing a non-volatile storage medium. A storage controller receives a message that identifies data that no longer needs to be retained on the non-volatile storage medium. The data may be identified using a logical identifier. The message may comprise a hint, directive, or other indication that the data has been erased and/or deleted. In response to the message, the storage controller records an indication that the contents of a physical storage location and/or physical address associated with the logical identifier do not need to be preserved on the non-volatile storage medium.
Claims20
1-30. (canceled)
An apparatus, comprising:
- a solid-state storage medium;
- a solid-state storage controller configured to implement storage operations on the solid-state storage medium in response to requests from a computer system, including storing data pertaining to logical addresses of a logical address space at respective physical addresses of the solid-state storage medium;
- and
- an indexer that assigns logical addresses of the logical address space to physical addresses in use to store data pertaining to the logical addresses on the solid-state storage medium;
- wherein the indexer removes an assignment between an identified logical address and a physical address of the solid-state storage medium in response to a message that indicates that the identified logical address is erased.
A system, comprising:
- a flash storage device comprising an input/output interface to communicatively couple the flash storage device to a computing device;
- a write circuit to write data on storage locations of the flash storage device in response to requests pertaining to logical identifiers of a logical address space, wherein the controller maintains index metadata to map logical identifiers to respective storage locations on the flash storage device;
- and
- a flash storage controller to designate that a storage location comprises data that does not need to be retained on the flash storage device in response to an empty block hint comprising a logical identifier that the index metadata maps to the designated storage location.
A system, comprising:
- means for mapping logical blocks of a logical address space to physical storage blocks on a solid-state storage medium that comprise data referenced by the respective logical blocks;
- means for receiving a message from a storage client that identifies an empty logical block, such that the identified logical block is not being used to reference data stored on the solid-state storage medium, wherein the logical block identified in the message is mapped to a particular physical storage block on the solid-state storage medium;
- means for unmapping the identified logical block from the particular physical storage block.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.