Data sorting in flash memory

Abstract

Since huge-capacity flash memory is now an economic solution for various portable devices and enterprise systems, a NAND flash-based storage system has replaced a hard-disk drive in many applications. Recently, the implementation of database systems on NAND flash-based storage systems has become an important research topic. In particular, the external sorting is an important operation on database systems. With the very distinctive characteristics of flash memory, the typical external sorting that adopts a clustered sorting could result in performance degradation and reduce the reliability of flash memory. In the paper, we will propose an unclustered sorting that considers flash-memory characteristics. According to the experimental results, the improve ratio of the execution time and the energy consumption can be about 25%. © 2012 Author.