Coordinated Garbage Collection for RAID Array of Solid State Disks

Technology Marketing SummaryAn ORNL invention that replaces existing magnetic disks with solid state disks, which have no mechanical moving parts, can more efficiently store, move, or clear unwanted data. The invention uses Global Garbage Collection (GGC) technology to enhance both storage and retrieval performance in future solid state disk-based computer systems. The new technology functions on both servers and mass consumer computers.DescriptionThe ORNL technology uses solid state disks in a coordinated RAID array. RAID, or
Redundant Array of Independent Disks, is an umbrella term for computer data
storage that can divide and replicate data among multiple disk drives. Data is
stored across all disks in such a way that if a single drive fails, the data can be
retrieved and reconstructed by the remaining disks.BenefitsIn the invention, a controller is coupled to the solid state disks. The controller globally coordinates the “garbage collection” activities of each of the disks, and can schedule and perform a globally coordinated memory scan over all disks in a given RAID array—reclaiming space when possible. The controller can also arrange the garbage collection in an active mode, in which collection cycles begin on all disks in the array at a scheduled time, or it can query the disks to determine the best time to start a global collection.

•Solid state disks have no mechanical moving parts, which eliminates disk head seek latencies and increases performance for input/ output workloads
•Solid state disks are compatible with existing disk technologies, which allows for easy replacement of magnetic disks with solid state disks in existing systems
•Solid state disks have lower power consumption, lighter weight, higher resilience to external shocks, and the ability to sustain hotter operating regimes
•As solid state disk technologies mature, mass production costs are droppingApplications and Industries•High-performance RAID controller devices for high-end servers and mass consumer computers
•New solid state disk devices for high-end servers and mass consumer computersMore InformationDavid A Dillow, Youngjae Kim, H. Sarp Oral, Galen M. Shipman, and Feiyi Wang, Coordinated Garbage Collection for RAID Array of Solid State Disks, U.S. Patent Application 13/015,750, filed January 28, 2011.Patents and Patent Applications

ID Number	Title and Abstract	Primary Lab	Date
Patent 8,713,268	Coordinated garbage collection for raid array of solid state disks An optimized redundant array of solid state devices may include an array of one or more optimized solid-state devices and a controller coupled to the solid-state devices for managing the solid-state devices. The controller may be configured to globally coordinate the garbage collection activities of each of said optimized solid-state devices, for instance, to minimize the degraded performance time and increase the optimal performance time of the entire array of devices.	Oak Ridge National Laboratory	04/29/2014 Issued

Technology Status

Technology ID	Development Stage	Availability	Published	Last Updated
UT-B ID 201002411	Proposed	Available	11/21/2011	10/27/2011