Disk On Chip

Disk On Chip Disk on chip is small chip based on flash technology. It is a storage device just like hard disk drives. Even the miniature disk drives of length .85 inches have number of problems associated with them. One critical issue is support for mechanical head-and-disk assembly. A disk on chip removes such problems and provides fast & reliable data storage.

Flexibility

Data capacity of flash disk on chip ranges from MBs to GBs (1 or 2). Above 1-2 it costs much higher. One of its cool features is its flexibility. A Disk on chip is compatible for newer, updated and upcoming architectures or models. The existing Disk On Chip sockets do not need to be redesigned. Most of the Disk on chips use TrueFFS technology that allows it to work on all operating systems. Most if not all disk on chip are compatible with Microsoft windows and windows XP.

Disk ON Chip Components

The newer motherboards of the embedded systems are designed with integrated disk on chip sockets. Disk on chips can use both NAND and NOR flash technologies. In a bigger picture there are four components associated with Disk on chip functionality.
  • FLASH media (NOR or NAND)
  • Controller
  • Memory bus
  • Input / Output Protocol
  • Boot Block

Disk On Chip Working

The data is written on flash media (disk on chip). A controller manages data tansfer between memory bus and I / O through a protocol. The boot block can be of SRAM or DRAM. A boot block runs the basic system boot code/boat loader/BIOS/BSP. After running the boot program is copied to system RAM. Data Integrity and Relaibilty One important feature used in disk on chips is error checking machanism. The most efficient is EDC/ECC macahanism that can fix four random bit errors per 512 bytes. The advanced disks on chip provides security features such as read only or write only allocations.

Conclusion

On the whole a disk on chip is a storage device with small size providing data reliabilty, system feasibility, reduced costs, low power consuption, and over all minimized integration efforts.

Disk On Module

disk on module Disk on module is a storage device that can be used instead of solid state hard disk drives. A disk on module is based on flash technology and emulates the ordinary magnetic hard disk. Being smaller in size it is quite easy to use in embedded integrated systems where space is a critical issue. The standard IDE hard disks have a number of issues realed with them. Such issues include special algorithams, read/write time, signal cable, extra special space and moving parts. A disk on module provides solution for most(if not all) of such problems. It doesn't require a signal cable or firmware driver. It is plugged in IDE slot and accessed like a hard disk. A disk on module has no moving parts providing flexibility in moving systems. Overall a disk on module shows low seek times, no latency delays, low powr consumption, sophisticated error correction machanaisms that result in high data reliability. The disk on modules are availble ranging 32MB to 6GB.