A storage controller, is a digital circuit that manages the flow of data going to and from a
computer storage device. The term "storage controller" may refer to either the storage interface controller on
CPU
A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor, or just processor, is the primary processor in a given computer. Its electronic circuitry executes instructions of a computer program, such as arithmetic, log ...
or
chipset
In a computer system, a chipset is a set of electronic components on one or more integrated circuits that manages the data flow between the processor, memory and peripherals. The chipset is usually found on the motherboard of computers. Chips ...
, the
flash memory controller
A flash memory controller (or flash controller) manages data stored on flash memory (usually NAND flash) and communicates with a computer or electronic device. Flash memory controllers can be designed for operating in low duty-cycle environme ...
on
solid state drive
A solid-state drive (SSD) is a type of solid-state storage device that uses Integrated circuit, integrated circuits to store data persistence (computer science), persistently. It is sometimes called semiconductor storage device, solid-stat ...
, or the
disk controller
A disk controller is a controller circuit that enables a CPU to communicate with a hard disk, floppy disk or other kind of disk drive. It also provides an interface between the disk drive and the bus connecting it to the rest of the system.{ ...
on
hard disk drive
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...
.
History
In history, the storage interface controller is usually integrated in
southbridge.
AMD Zen 1 archirecture (2017) and
Intel Rocket Lake archirecture (2021) had integrated the
M.2 storage interface controller in
CPU
A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor, or just processor, is the primary processor in a given computer. Its electronic circuitry executes instructions of a computer program, such as arithmetic, log ...
.
Variants
Floppy disk controller
In 1990s PCs, the
floppy disk controller
A floppy-disk controller (FDC) is a hardware component that directs and controls reading from and writing to a computer's floppy disk drive (FDD). It has evolved from a discrete set of components on one or more circuit boards to a special-purpo ...
is usually integrated in
super I/O
Super I/O (sometimes Multi-IO) is a class of I/O controller integrated circuits that began to be used on personal computer motherboards in the late 1980s, originally as add-in cards, later embedded on the motherboards. A super I/O chip combine ...
chip.
IDE controller
In older PCs, the
IDE controller is usually integrated in
southbridge.
SCSI controller
In older workstations and servers used as a high-end alternative to consumer-grade IDE hard disk drives. Gave way to
Serial Attached SCSI
In computing, Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) is a point-to-point serial Communications protocol, protocol that moves data to and from Computer storage, computer-storage devices such as hard disk drives, solid-state drives and tape drives. SAS replac ...
(SAS).
AHCI controller
The
AHCI
The Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) is a technical standard defined by Intel that specifies the Hardware register, register-level interface of Serial ATA (SATA) host controllers in a non-implementation-specific manner in its Intel chip ...
controller is usually integrated in
southbridge.
[https://www.intel.com/content/dam/doc/datasheet/io-controller-hub-9-datasheet.pdf]
M.2 controller
The
M.2 controller is usually integrated in
SoC,
CPU
A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor, or just processor, is the primary processor in a given computer. Its electronic circuitry executes instructions of a computer program, such as arithmetic, log ...
, or
southbridge.
RAID controller
The RAID controller is usually found on more advanced computers such as servers.
See also
*
Memory controller
A memory controller, also known as memory chip controller (MCC) or a memory controller unit (MCU), is a digital circuit that manages the flow of data going to and from a computer's main memory. When a memory controller is integrated into anothe ...
References
{{CPU technologies
Computer data storage
Integrated circuits