Topics in computer data storage

Computer data storage is a technology consisting of computer components and recording media that are used to retain digital data. It is a core function and fundamental component of computers. The central processing unit (CPU) of a computer is what manipulates data by performing computations. In practice, almost all computers use a storage hierarchy, which puts fast but expensive and small storage options close to the CPU and slower but less expensive and larger options further away. Generally, the fast technologies are referred to as "memory", while slower persistent technologies are referred to as "storage". Even the first computer designs, Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine and Percy Ludgate's Analytical Machine, clearly distinguished between processing and memory (Babbage stored numbers as rotations of gears, while Ludgate stored numbers as displacements of rods in shuttles). This distinction was extended in the Von Neumann architecture, where the CPU consists of two main parts: The control unit and the arithmetic logic unit (ALU). The former controls the flow of data between the CPU and memory, while the latter performs arithmetic and logical operations on data. Without a significant amount of memory, a computer would merely be able to perform fixed operations and immediately output the result. It would have to be reconfigured to change its behavior. This is acceptable for devices such as desk calculators, digital signal processors, and other specialized devices. Von Neumann machines differ in having a memory in which they store their operating instructions and data. Such computers are more versatile in that they do not need to have their hardware reconfigured for each new program, but can simply be reprogrammed with new in-memory instructions; they also tend to be simpler to design, in that a relatively simple processor may keep state between successive computations to build up complex procedural results. Most modern computers are von Neumann machines. A modern digital computer represents data using the binary numeral system.

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SafetyPin: Encrypted Backups with Human-Memorable Secrets

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We present the design and implementation of SafetyPin, a system for encrypted mobile-device backups. Like existing cloud-based mobile-backup systems, including those of Apple and Google, SafetyPin requires users to remember only a short PIN and defends against brute-force PIN-guessing attacks using hardware security protections. Unlike today's systems, SafetyPin splits trust over a cluster of hardware security modules (HSMs) in order to provide security guarantees that scale with the number of HSMs. In this way, SafetyPin protects backed-up user data even against an attacker that can adaptively compromise many of the system's constituent HSMs. SafetyPin provides this protection without sacrificing scalability or fault tolerance. Decentralizing trust while respecting the resource limits of today's HSMs requires a synthesis of systems-design principles and cryptographic tools. We evaluate SafetyPin on a cluster of 100 low-cost HSMs and show that a SafetyPin-protected recovery takes 1.01 seconds. To process 1B recoveries a year, we estimate that a SafetyPin deployment would need 3,100 low-cost HSMs.

USENIX Association2020

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USENIX ASSOC2020

Training fully connected networks with resistive memories: impact of device failures

Giorgio Cristiano, Massimo Giordano, Martina Bodini

Hardware accelerators based on two-terminal non-volatile memories (NVMs) can potentially provide competitive speed and accuracy for the training of fully connected deep neural networks (FC-DNNs), with respect to GPUs and other digital accelerators. We recently proposed [S. Ambrogio et al., Nature, 2018] novel neuromorphic crossbar arrays, consisting of a pair of phase-change memory (PCM) devices combined with a pair of 3-Transistor 1-Capacitor (3T1C) circuit elements, so that each weight was implemented using multiple conductances of varying significance, and then showed that this weight element can train FC-DNNs to software-equivalent accuracies. Unfortunately, however, real arrays of emerging NVMs such as PCM typically include some failed devices (e.g.,

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Clustered file system

A clustered file system is a which is shared by being simultaneously mounted on multiple servers. There are several approaches to clustering, most of which do not employ a clustered file system (only direct attached storage for each node). Clustered file systems can provide features like location-independent addressing and redundancy which improve reliability or reduce the complexity of the other parts of the cluster. Parallel file systems are a type of clustered file system that spread data across multiple storage nodes, usually for redundancy or performance.

Floppy disk

[[File:Image3,5-Diskette removed.jpg|thumbnail|A 31⁄2-inch floppy disk removed from its housing]] A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy or a diskette) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a fabric that removes dust particles from the spinning disk. Floppy disks store digital data which can be read and written when the disk is inserted into a floppy disk drive (FDD) connected to or inside a computer or other device.

Page (computer memory)

A page, memory page, or virtual page is a fixed-length contiguous block of virtual memory, described by a single entry in the page table. It is the smallest unit of data for memory management in a virtual memory operating system. Similarly, a page frame is the smallest fixed-length contiguous block of physical memory into which memory pages are mapped by the operating system. A transfer of pages between main memory and an auxiliary store, such as a hard disk drive, is referred to as paging or swapping.

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In computer science, computer architecture is a description of the structure of a computer system made from component parts. It can sometimes be a high-level description that ignores details of the implementation. At a more detailed level, the description may include the instruction set architecture design, microarchitecture design, logic design, and implementation. The first documented computer architecture was in the correspondence between Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace, describing the analytical engine.

Microprocessors

A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit (IC), or a small number of ICs. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circuitry required to perform the functions of a computer's central processing unit (CPU). The IC is capable of interpreting and executing program instructions and performing arithmetic operations.

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