Unexpected Power Loss
Storage medium in an embedded application needs to be thought about differently to a mobile or desktop system. In a battery powered system, it’s rare to abruptly loose power and normally a low battery will be indicated to the operating system before a critical state is reached. The Operating System (O/S) will then put the device into a safe state before a complete loss of power occurs.
In a desktop system, the O/S, will likely enter a sleep or hibernation state if unattended for a long period of time and only occasional power loss is expected. Embedded systems need to be designed such that any unexpected power loss is to be expected and won’t cause corruption to the operating system or loss of data from the application software running on the device.
This can be achieved in a number of ways :-
- Ensure any application software does not cache when writing to the file system.
- Turn off any O/S write caching (on Windows this is controlled via Device Manager).
- Ensure the Operating System is protected. With Windows 10 this is achieved by using the Unified Write Filter (UWF) which redirects data writes to a virtual overlay that is erased on a reboot.
- Ensure that your storage medium has built in Power Loss Protection. SSD’s often incorporate a RAM buffer into which data and the SSD’s mapping tables are held when the system is powered. In the event of any unexpected power loss, the data in the RAM buffer needs to be written to flash, else the SSD could become corrupted and result in partial or complete loss of data. This is often accomplished on the SSD by incorporating a bank of power capacitors which will hold up the power supply long enough for any data in RAM to be written to the flash memory.
We like to make life easier ….
BVM supply a wide and diverse range of Industrial and Embedded Systems.
From Industrial Motherboards, SBCs and Box PCs, to Rack Mount computers and Industrial Panel PCs.
Our technical & commercial team members will always provide you with valuable but impartial advice around the products and services that BVM provide. With their collective backgrounds, they’ll provide you with the benefit of their knowledge and experiences when & where you need it. We’ll always help you in the first instance and get back to you when additional information is required.
You can either call us directly on +(0) 1489 780 144 and talk to one of the team | E-mail us at sales@bvmltd.co.uk | Use the contact form on our website