The inventive concept relates generally to electronic data storage technologies. More particularly, the inventive concept relates to data storage devices and related methods of operation.
The information age has produced an explosive increase in the demand for personal data storage. With this increasing demand, various types of personal data storage devices have proliferated. For example, hard disk drives (HDDs) have been widely used due to various attractive features such as high recording density, high speed of data transmission, fast data access time, and low cost. Unfortunately, an HDD can be damaged by even slight shock and vibration due to its use of a platter and complex mechanical parts.
In recent years, solid-state disks or drives (SSDs) have been developed to replace HDDs. An SSD is a data storage device that uses a solid-state semiconductor memory as a main form of data storage. Unlike HDDs, SSDs do not include a platter and related mechanical parts. As a result, SSDs tend to have lower mechanical driving time and latency, and faster read/write times compared with HDDs. They also tend to have fewer errors due to latency and mechanical friction compared with HDDs, so their reliability in performing read/write operations tends to be better than that of HDDs. Moreover, SSDs generate relatively little heat and noise during operation, and they can withstand physical shock, which makes them increasingly more attractive than HDDs.
Due to the increasing popularity of SSDs, researchers are currently devoting great efforts to improving numerous aspects of their performance, including read/write speed, storage capacity, power consumption, reliability, durability, and many others.