Advantages and Disadvantages of Flash Memory

Flash memory is digital storage technology that retains the data stored in the memory even when the electrical power is turned off. It is used in; USB drive, memory cards, smart phones, SSDs among others. The benefits and drawbacks of using flash memory will be discussed in this article to give the reader a better understanding of why this particular memory type is so indispensable for today’s technologies and the issues one should be mindful of when interacting with this kind of storage devices.

What is Flash Memory?

Flash memory is an evolving technology that's finding its way into our lives on an increasing scale.  Flash-memory technology is ubiquitous. Like most things associated with computers, non-volatile storage sticks have a specific set of benefits and drawbacks. Having a basic idea of those parameters allows the buyer to form a more informed choice about which is best for his or her needs.

Flash memory may be a quite Erasable Read Only Memory (EEROM) which has the potential to clear and rewrite data. It's non-volatile meaning it can hold data even without the presence of power, supported the way of addressing read/write data, non-volatile storage is of two types. Those are the NAND non-volatile storage and NOR non-volatile storage.  

Non-volatile storage is made using solid-state chips. Each of those chips contains an array of non-volatile storage cells. Rather than a traditional electrochemical method, non-volatile storage uses semiconductors for storing data. Non-volatile storage is one and the only sort of semiconductor memory making it one of the important sorts of data-storage medium. While non-volatile storage has gained immense popularity there are some drawbacks that limit its universal adoption. These factors must be considered before using this data-storage medium.

Working of Flash Memory

Nonvolatile and erasable programmable to store data both in aggregated information and useful units of data termed as; Flash memory. It does so with the help of a grid of memory cells which are formed of floating-gate transistors. Flash memory has block structured that is in writing, erasing and reading making it efficient for reading but relatively slower in writing and erasing.

When data is to be written to the system’s flash memory then electrons are stored on the floating gate of the transistor. This alters the charge of the transistor which is read as binary number i.e., 0’s and 1’s. During the reading of the cells the voltage of each cell is measured to be either charged with 0 or 1. To delete data, the electrons which reside in the floating gate are wiped out for the cells to go back to the initial or factory state.

Advantages of Non-Volatile Storage

• Speed: Non-volatile storage posses high transferring speeds. Compared to a standard hard disc drive, non-volatile storage does read/write function at a quick rate.
   
• Drives: Still tops in terms of performance.
   
• Durability: Non-volatile storage doesn't contain any moving parts. It solely depends on electrochemical processes, having no moving parts means it's more durable also.
   
• Form Factor: Most of the flash memories come in several forms. More or same capacity are often packed in smaller units, making it require less space to accommodate data storage.
   
• Reliability: Over the span of the last 70 years, hard disc drives are continually improved in terms of reliability. Still, flash memories outrank them. This is often again due to the very fact that it lacks moving parts. The reliability of flash memories makes it recommended to be utilized in mobile devices.
   
• Efficiency: Non-volatile storage requires no physical parts for its operations. Hence, there's a very less number of energy required for its functioning. And also thanks to this fact there's no noise produced also.
   
• Portability: Another advantage of flash memories is that it's highly portable. Therefore, they're mostly utilized in devices that are small and lightweight weighted. Examples like USB memory sticks and camera flash cards.
• Non-volatile: Flash memory is non-volatile, which means that it can retain data even when the power is turned off. This makes it a reliable storage option for electronic devices.
• Fast read/write speeds: Flash memory has fast read/write speeds, which makes it a good option for storing and retrieving data quickly.
• Portable: Flash memory is small and portable, which makes it well-suited for use in mobile devices and portable storage devices.
• Durable: Flash memory is durable and can withstand physical shocks and vibrations, which makes it a good option for use in rugged environments.

Disadvantages of Non-Volatile Storage

• Cost: Supported the value per gigabyte basis, flash memories are always expensive than traditional hard disc drives. This is often because hard disc drives are less costly to manufacture and have been for a very while. Therefore, usually business of small budgets prefer HDDs over other sorts of flash memories.
   
• Effectiveness: Many NAND drives make efficient use of the process of Program/Erase to storing data., this process eventually wears and tears down the flash drives. As a result flash memories don't have the potential to carry up heavy write loads.
   
• Lifetime: Although flash memories are more durable than a standard hard disc drive, it doesn't possess an infinite lifetime. It goes on decreasing when applied high voltages across transistors. However, most flash memories won't affect until completing a minimum of 10000 rewrites.
   
• Capacity: Generally, most or all of the flash memories do have a drag reaching higher capacity as hard disc drives. Only Solid State Drives which are of flash memories comes with higher capacities. But that too under rare circumstances. SSDs also have a drag reaching 1TB in size. Besides this, all the flash memories with greater capacities tend to urge performance issues. Therefore, capacity is usually a priority in flash memories.
   
• Editing: Works Another drawback of flash memories is that it rewrites data in block units. If it's done one by one for every byte, it can take a considerably long amount of your time. Thanks to this the editing time has been hampering significantly. However, this process doesn't make sure that each block is often edited specifically.
   
• Physical Damages : Flash memories especially those are by memory cards are susceptible to damages. They will be easily smashed or lost. Sometimes electronic corruption can make the cardboard unreadable. Likewise, the difficulty is often addressed to SSDs too. They will be damaged if handled improperly.
• Limited write cycles: Flash memory has a limited number of write cycles, which means that it can wear out over time. This can lead to data loss or corruption if the memory is used for intensive write operations.
• Limited storage capacity: Flash memory has a limited storage capacity compared to other types of storage devices, such as hard disk drives or solid-state drives.
• Expensive: Flash memory can be more expensive than other types of storage devices on a per-gigabyte basis.
• Susceptible to data corruption: Flash memory is susceptible to data corruption if it is exposed to magnetic fields or high temperatures, which can lead to data loss or corruption.

Types of Flash Memory

NOR Flash Memory

As it was mentioned NOR flash memory is designed for data access that requires Random Access. This type makes it possible to enable the processor to read data directly from the memory, it is used for code storage in embedded systems.

Advantages of NOR Flash Memory

• Faster Read Access: Permits random read access so as to allow direct access to any byte in the file.
• Direct Code Execution: Enhances Execute in Place (XIP), this means that code can be executed directly from the NOR flash without having to be copied into the RAM first.

Disadvantages of NOR Flash Memory

• Slower Write and Erase Times: To mankind, they are slower when it comes to writing and erasing data than NAND flash.
• Higher Cost: NOR flash is more costly to manufacture as compared with NAND flash due to the advanced design.

NAND Flash Memory

NAND has a very good performance in sequential storage operations due to its more practical structure and it is utilized in storage media like USB, SSD and memory cards. Storing more of the data is made possible in a smaller space and at a lesser cost than with the RADMS.

Advantages of NAND Flash Memory

• Higher Storage Density: Enables the storage of more data at a given smaller physical size.
• Faster Write and Erase: That is why it has better data writing and erasing characteristics, which makes it more suitable for mass storage.

Disadvantages of NAND Flash Memory

• Slower Read Access: NAND is however slower to that of NOR in terms of random read operations.
• No XIP: It lacks Execute in Place features which means that for code to be executed it has to be first copied to the RAM.

Conclusion

It has brought light in memories based on the functions that it has come along with including; non-volatile, high speed and reliable memories. However, like any other nonvolatile memory, it also has the demerits such as limited write and programming cycles, relatively expensive and data retention problem. Even though flash memory works well in data storage, it has some limitations which when understood can assist the user while selecting the storage devices.