SanDisk SSD X100
Product Manual (Released)
Rev 1.0
© 2011 SanDisk® Corporation
13
Document No. 80-11-01842
1.4.4
Tiered Caching
The SSD X100 supports a unique feature to improve random write performance and ensure very
positive user experience. Studies show that modern operating systems mostly access the
storage device using small access blocks, with the majority being 4KB access blocks.
The small logical access blocks conflict with the physical block structure (>1MB) for the newer
generation flash memory technology. Therefore, to bridge this difference, SSD X100 employs
three storage layers:
Volatile cache - DDR DRAM cache
nCache™ - A non-volatile flash write cache
Mass storage – MLC NAND flash
The nCache™ is used to accumulate small writes (called segments) at high speed and then flush
& consolidate them to larger MLC section of the NAND Flash memory array.
Figure
1-1: SanDisk SSD X100 Tiered Caching Technology
