Non-Volatile File System
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Non-Volatile File System (NVFS) is a flash memory file system introduced in the release of Palm's
Personal Digital Assistant A personal digital assistant (PDA), also known as a handheld PC, is a variety mobile device which functions as a personal information manager. PDAs have been mostly displaced by the widespread adoption of highly capable smartphones, in partic ...
handheld models
Tungsten T5 The Tungsten series was Palm, Inc.'s line of business-class Palm OS-based PDAs. Details The Tungsten series was introduced in October 2002, created as a "prosumer" line priced at $199 to $300 to compete with the popular Sony Clie and Windows Mo ...
,
Tungsten E2 The Tungsten series was Palm, Inc.'s line of business-class Palm OS-based PDAs. Details The Tungsten series was introduced in October 2002, created as a "prosumer" line priced at $199 to $300 to compete with the popular Sony Clie and Windows Mo ...
,
Palm TX The Palm TX (written as "Palm T, X" in official documentation) was a personal digital assistant which was produced by Palm, Inc. It was announced and released as part of Palm's October 2005 product cycle, and was in production until March 2009. ...
, Z22,
Treo 650 The Palm Treo 650 is a Palm OS-based smartphone, the successor to Palm's Treo 600. It began shipping in November 2004, and was discontinued in 2008. Specifications Carriers The following GSM and CDMA2000 mobile phone operators currently or p ...
/
700 The denomination 700 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Avar and Slavic tribes conq ...
/ 680/ 755p, and
Palm Centro The Palm Centro is a smartphone marketed by Palm, Inc. beginning its release on October 14, 2007 offering the functionality of the larger Treo 755p in a smaller size. The Centro is one of the last devices to run the Palm OS operating system. The ...
.


Background


Overview of NVFS

The NVFS, as claimed by palmOne, is a file system designed to keep all information safe should the battery run out of power. Previous non-flash memory designs would lose all stored data in the event of a power loss. ''NVFS'' is a derivative of
Flash Memory Flash memory is an electronic non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for the NOR and NAND logic gates. Both us ...
, which continually stores all data even when no power is applied. palmOne invented NVFS in response to complaints that a handheld's data was destroyed when the battery power ran out. In the past, it was necessary to keep the handheld continuously charged to avoid losing data, since all information was stored in volatile memory. A similar feature has been adopted by PDAs running the
Windows Mobile Windows Mobile is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones and personal digital assistants. Its origin dated back to Windows CE in 1996, though Windows Mobile itself first appeared in 2000 as Pock ...
5.0
operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
, and is named "Persistent Storage".


Architecture and specifications

NVFS uses
NAND flash memory Flash memory is an electronic non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for the NOR and NAND logic gates. Both use ...
technology to retain the handheld's data in the event of a battery swap or if the battery runs out of power.
palmOne Palm, Inc. was an American company that specialized in manufacturing personal digital assistants (PDAs) and various other electronics. They were the designer of the PalmPilot, the first PDA successfully marketed worldwide, as well as the Treo 60 ...
claims that Flash memory is a plus for the majority of their consumers since many of them do not want to charge the handheld too often, and it consumes less overall power. NVFS uses a brand-new data architecture which might render incompatible some applications which ran very well with non-NVFS handhelds.


Controversy and unfavorable remarks from power users

Because the NVFS File System was designed to use clusters of 512
byte The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit ...
blocks, power users have complained that files take approximately 33% more space than in volatile file systems. In fact a volatile file system uses a block size of only 14 bytes, compared to the NVFS File System minimum block size of 512 bytes. palmOne responded to this complaint by offering a free 128
megabyte The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Its recommended unit symbol is MB. The unit prefix ''mega'' is a multiplier of (106) in the International System of Units (SI). Therefore, one megabyte is one million bytes o ...
SD Card Secure Digital, officially abbreviated as SD, is a proprietary non-volatile flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA) for use in portable devices. The standard was introduced in August 1999 by joint efforts between SanDis ...
on request to selected customers. At the NVFS Early Release, Palm (at the time palmOne) would commit itself to work on a ROM Flash Update to reduce the overhead of the NVFS Architecture. Currently Palm-branded products using NVFS should be shipped with the NVFS Fix already installed. (The Tungsten E2 uses 4kb blocks.) (It is recommended those having earlier versions of the Palm Treo 650 and Tungsten T5 install the NVFS Fix at the earliest possible convenience). Such controversy gave the
Tungsten T5 The Tungsten series was Palm, Inc.'s line of business-class Palm OS-based PDAs. Details The Tungsten series was introduced in October 2002, created as a "prosumer" line priced at $199 to $300 to compete with the popular Sony Clie and Windows Mo ...
and the
Treo 650 The Palm Treo 650 is a Palm OS-based smartphone, the successor to Palm's Treo 600. It began shipping in November 2004, and was discontinued in 2008. Specifications Carriers The following GSM and CDMA2000 mobile phone operators currently or p ...
unfavorable remarks from power users.


Later developments

palmOne released the first Sprint Treo 650 Updater which was designed to ensure that the block size overhead was reduced from 512 bytes to 16-32 bytes (Usually 32 bytes, but can be as low as 16 bytes depending on the file's demand), resulting in drastic memory management efficiency improvements of the NVFS File System. A second update to the Sprint Treo 650 was released on June 16, 2005. The Unlocked GSM Firmware Upgrade was also released on the day of the second Sprint Treo 650 firmware update which also improves the efficiency of the NVFS File System in addition to addressing known problems prior to the release of the firmware update. The Rogers Wireless Treo 650 Firmware Update was quietly posted at the Rogers Wireless Treo 650 support site, and shares the same bug fixes and NVFS memory efficiency updates as with the unlocked GSM version. The initial release of the palmOne Tungsten E2, Verizon Wireless Treo 650 and the Earthlink Wireless Treo 650 already has the NVFS Memory System problems assessed. According to Palm Info Center on June 22, 2005, the palmOne Tungsten T5 Version 1.1 Update fixes the NVFS File System Inefficiency Problem since its release in November 2004. The Version 1.1 Update also updates the Tungsten T5's Version Number to Garnet 5.4.8. On July 25, 2005, the Cingular Treo 650 Fix was officially released, with one of the fixes being addressing inefficiency problems associated with the NVFS File System. Cingular Treo 650 holders are encouraged to deploy this Flash ROM Update at the earliest time possible.


See also

* Tungsten T5 and Tungsten E2 * Treo Smartphone Line *
PalmOne, Inc. Palm, Inc. was an American company that specialized in manufacturing personal digital assistants (PDAs) and various other electronics. They were the designer of the PalmPilot, the first PDA successfully marketed worldwide, as well as the Treo 6 ...


References


External links


palmOne Treo 650 Updater Information regarding about NVFS Features
€”Also updates Garnet to 5.4.8.
palmOne Tungsten T5 new featurespalmOne Tungsten T5 KB Article 34247palmOne Tungsten E2 NVFS InformationpalmOne NVFS in GeneralPalm Infocenter--palmOne NVFS ControversyPalm Focus--Treo 650 Software Compatibility InformationPalm Focus--Tungsten T5 Software Compatibility InformationHobbyist Software--How to fix a cache crash
{{Filesystem Palm OS Computer file systems Flash file systems