Using data clustering to improve cleaning performance for flash memory

Flash memory offers attractive features for storage of data, such as non-volatility, shock resistance, fast access speed, and low power consumption. However, it requires erasing before it can be overwritten. The erase operations are slow and consume comparatively a great deal of power. Furthermore, flash memory can only be erased a limited number of times. To overcome hardware limitations, we use the non-in-place update mechanism that requires a cleaner to reclaim space occupied by obsolete data. To improve cleaning performance and prolong flash memory lifetime, we propose a new data reorganization method. By this method, data in flash memory are dynamically classified and clustered together according to their accessing frequencies. Experimental results show that this clustering technique significantly improved the cleaning performance for a variety of cleaning algorithms. The number of erase operations performed is greatly reduced and flash memory lifetime is prolonged. Even wearing is ensured as well. Copyright  1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.