Overview

SafeFTL is a standard flash translation layer that allows an array of NAND flash to be addressed as a set of standard 512Byte, 2K or 4K logical sectors.

NAND flash is a very cost effective flash storage medium. However, it has certain characteristics that prevent its use as a simple continuous storage array. It may contain bad blocks; bad bits may develop in previously good blocks; and heavily used blocks will “wear-out”.

To allow a higher-level system – such as a file system – to use NAND flash effectively it is necessary to use a flash translation layer that carefully manages the flash while providing a simple logical sector interface to the host system.