Articles by subject: tsfs

Making Sense of Flash File System Performances

Edouard Haas September 20, 2023

In this particular article, we show how the maximum average write throughput on a given flash device varies with the amount of stored data. We provide a simple performance model that can be used for setting realistic performance expectations, comparing file system performances, and questioning application requirements with minimal assumptions regarding the actual workload or file system implementation.

5 Things to Consider When Choosing an Embedded File System

Edouard Haas March 14, 2023

In this article, we cover five aspects of embedded file systems that you should have in mind when deciding which one to choose, five essentials that you can’t ignore. This is by no means a complete guide to embedded file systems but it covers enough to avoid common mistakes, particularly among application engineers who have little prior experience with embedded file systems.

The Case for QSPI NAND in Deeply (And Not So Deeply) Embedded Applications

Edouard Haas September 30, 2020

QSPI NAND is a memory technology specifically designed as a direct alternative to its popular cousin, QSPI NOR. But what exactly is QSPI NAND? How does it compare to QSPI NOR? How does it compare to parallel NAND? This is what this article is all about.

NOR vs NAND: So You Think You Know the Music?

Edouard Haas April 21, 2020

In-depth comparison between NOR and NAND covering aspects of NOR and NAND flash technologies that, in our view, are too often ignored including the impact of the application requirements on the choice of Flash technology.

Road leading to an SD Card shaped sunrise.

Managed vs Unmanaged: The Many Roads to Flash Storage

Edouard Haas March 26, 2020

Let’s explore and compare two different paradigms of flash management commonly used throughout the industry: managed flash and unmanaged flash. Managed flash devices include SD cards, USB flash drives, eMMC and UFS modules — also SSDs, but those are less often seen in embedded systems. These are all NAND-based devices.

Taming the Flash Beast

Edouard Haas February 26, 2020

This article is the first of an introduction series about flash memory with a focus on embedded systems. A high-level introduction shall we say. Not the kind that takes you straight to the electron and drags you through the depths of quantum physics. No. The purpose of this series is to provide useful information from

Code example of implementing a firmware upgrade procedure using TSFS snapshot and revert features.

Firmware Update Implementation Using TSFS Snapshots

Edouard Haas November 14, 2019

In the previous article of this series on TSFS snapshots, we have shown how snapshots can be used to design a simple yet robust firmware upgrade procedure. This time, we go from design to implementation, delving into the specifics of the TSFS snapshot management interface. More specifically, we show how we can meet our initial

Firmware upgrade procedure block diagram using a snapshot to save the state of the file system prior to beginning the upgrade procedure.

Firmware Upgrade Design Using TSFS Snapshots

Edouard Haas October 30, 2019

This article is the first part of a twofold series on one of the most unique TSFS feature: snapshotting. In this first article, we show how snapshots can ease application development, providing the application designer with an elegant way of handling concurrent read/write accesses. We also introduce a simple firmware update example, to help us

Timing diagram of various high-level failures that could break the coherence of a data logging application.

Fail-Safe Storage with the TREEspan File System Part 3: Enforcing Coherence Through Transactions

Edouard Haas October 11, 2019

In this article, we show that TSFS transactions go beyond preserving file-level integrity, and can also be used to enforce coherence across multiple files and directories. To support the discussion, we present a real-life application example and demonstrate how a single additional call to tsfs_commit() is all that is needed to make the code immune to unexpected failures.

Time diagram of the protection afforded by a transactional file system against various unexpected failure points during a file update.

Fail-Safe Storage with the TREEspan File System Part 2: TSFS Transactions

Edouard Haas October 1, 2019

In this second article in this series we see how an application can be designed to withstand such unforeseen events, using TSFS transactions. Doing so, we introduce the tsfs_commit() API. We also discuss the write transaction atomicity property, by which applications can be safely designed ignoring potential partial update issues.