NANDrive™ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Product

Q1. What is NANDrive?
A1. NANDrive is a Greenliant branded small form factor solid state drive (SSD) consisting of an integrated NAND controller and NAND flash die in a ball grid array (BGA) package. NANDrive products support various industry-standard interfaces such as eMMC (embedded MultiMediaCard), PATA (Parallel ATA) and SATA (Serial ATA). NANDrive products share the same footprint across all capacities, ranging from 1 GByte to 128 GByte, within each device family.
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Q2. When were NANDrive embedded SSDs introduced to the general market?
A2. The NANDrive product family was introduced in October 2006. NANDrive leverages more than 30 years of NAND controller and SSD design expertise of Greenliant, and has been developed as a highly integrated managed NAND solution with high endurance and reliability to address long-life embedded applications.
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Q3. What markets does NANDrive serve?
A3. NANDrive serves the needs of transportation, communications and networking, defense and aerospace, industrial, medical, security and video market segments. These applications typically require long-term support and high reliability, and cannot use discrete NAND flash due to frequent process node migrations resulting in costly system redesigns.
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Q4. What are the advantages of NANDrive compared with other solid state drive (SSD) or hard disk drive (HDD) products? Does Greenliant have comparison data?
A4. NANDrive offers superior endurance and reliability, advanced power interrupt data protection and configurable security features. NANDrive uses a smaller footprint and is typically easier to integrate compared with many competing products. Please contact your Greenliant sales representative for more information and competitive data.
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Q5. What is EnduroSLC™ Technology?
A5. EnduroSLC™ Technology is a proprietary technology developed by Greenliant for its ultra-high endurance, high reliability NANDrive™ and ArmourDrive™ product lines. It uses advanced NAND flash management algorithms and hardware error checking and correction (ECC) capabilities to significantly extend the life of SSDs. EnduroSLC products can reach industry leading endurance levels of 250K+ P/E cycles.
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Q6. What NAND configurations are supported by NANDrive?
A6. NANDrive is available in both 1-bit-per-cell (SLC) and 2-bits-per-cell (MLC) configurations. The latest SLC NANDrive products use EnduroSLC Technology to address the most demanding embedded applications.
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Q7. Does Greenliant offer extended temperature NANDrive products?
A7. Industrial temperature (-40 to +85 degrees Celsius) NANDrive products are available with SLC and MLC NAND to meet varying customer requirements for lifespan, endurance and performance.
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Q8. What interfaces does NANDrive support?
A8. Greenliant offers eMMC 5.1, PATA, and SATA 1.5Gb/s / 6Gb/s NANDrive SSDs compatible with many popular chipsets such as Intel, NVIDIA, TI, NXP and Marvell.
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Q9. What is the difference between Industrial Grade and Industrial Temperature NANDrive products?
A9. Industrial Grade (I-grade) = high-endurance* SLC NAND-based Greenliant SSDs supporting industrial temperatures (-40 to +85 degrees Celsius)
Industrial Temperature (I-temp) = standard-endurance** MLC NAND-based Greenliant SSDs supporting industrial temperatures (-40 to +85 degrees Celsius)

* Endurance options ranging from 50K to 250K, or higher, Program/Erase cycles (achieved with Greenliant’s EnduroSLC Technology)
** Endurance up to 5K Program/Erase cycles
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Q10. Will Greenliant maintain pin-to-pin compatibility across all capacities and between current and future NANDrive products?
A10. Greenliant intends to keep the same ball print for all NANDrive products within each device family. Package size and operation voltage may change due to NAND technology advancement to smaller geometries.
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Q11. Does NANDrive use DRAM for caching?
A11. No. NANDrive is DRAM-less to preserve data reliability in case of power loss.
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Q12. Does Greenliant own the controller and firmware of NANDrive?
A12. Greenliant designs and develops all controllers, firmware, packaging and testing in-house. By owning the full competency of the entire NANDrive device, Greenliant can offer a wide range of embedded SSD products and provides its customers with efficient “one-stop-shop” support.
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Q13. Is each NANDrive tested before it is shipped to the customer?
A13. Yes. Every NANDrive SSD Greenliant ships out is fully tested to the specified configurations.
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Technical

Q1. Will a PCB redesign be required if we need to switch to a different capacity NANDrive product?
A1. No. All NANDrive products share the same footprint across all capacities within each device family.
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Q2. What types of NAND flash are supported by Greenliant controllers?
A2. Both planar and 3D NAND are supported by Greenliant controllers enabling NANDrive SSDs.
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Q3. How does the host know when the embedded NAND flash is reaching the end of its operational lifespan?
A3. The lifespan of the product can be determined by using an age analysis tool utilizing SMART commands. Please contact Greenliant technical support for more information.
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Q4. What file system(s) are supported by NANDrive?
A4. NANDrive supports all types of file systems typically used in embedded applications.
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Q5. Can you boot from NANDrive?
A5. eMMC NANDrive has a configurable boot partition and supports power-on booting (high-speed boot, DDR boot. Booting directly from PATA and SATA NANDrive will work if the host chipset supports internal flash or ROM memory with system boot code, or if there is an external flash or a ROM installed with system boot code or BIOS. PATA and SATA NANDrive SSDs support system boot the same way as an HDD.
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Q6. Is the NANDrive firmware field upgradeable?
A6. Yes. Greenliant can provide tools for firmware field updates. Customers can also develop their own firmware update tool based on the provided firmware update specification.
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Q7. If the number of bad blocks on the NAND flash becomes excessive, will the host be able to perform Read functions on NANDrive?
A7. Yes. The NAND flash can still be read, but cannot be written to when the number of bad blocks exceeds its maximum allowed quantity.
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Q8. Does Greenliant provide a PCB layout guideline for NANDrive?
A8. A PCB layout design guide is available and provides detailed recommendations and descriptions. Please contact Greenliant technical support for more information.
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Q9. How are the NANDrive data protection and security functions implemented?
A9. A copy of the NANDrive Data Protection and Security presentation can be obtained through your Greenliant sales representative.
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Q10. Can NANDrive be connected to the memory bus?
A10. Yes. PATA NANDrive can be connected to the memory bus. Please contact your Greenliant sales representative for a copy of the NANDrive on Memory Bus presentation.
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Support

Q1. What happens when the internal NAND flash memory changes?
A1. NANDrive is a managed NAND solution, which protects from NAND flash obsolescence by offering customers a seamless migration path, subject to some technical limitations. Customers are notified of product changes and recommended compatible solutions through PCNs (Product Change Notifications).
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Q2. Does Greenliant offer long-term supply support for NANDrive, including no changes to the NAND flash, for prolonged periods of time?
A2. Greenliant’s Long-Term Availability (LTA) program offers a stable portfolio of SLC NAND-based NANDrive products (eMMC, PATA, SATA). Greenliant also supports extended availability for select MLC NAND-based devices. Please contact your Greenliant sales representative to discuss long-term NANDrive support in more detail.
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Q3. Does Greenliant have reliability data for all NANDrive products?
A3. Yes. Greenliant has reliability reports for all NANDrive products released to market. Please contact your Greenliant sales representative to obtain copies of the reports.
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Q4. Are simulation models available?
A4. Yes. IBIS models are available for eMMC and PATA NANDrive. IBIS models are also planned for next generation SATA NANDrive.
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Q5. Where can I find product documentation and marketing literature on NANDrive?
A5. General product documentation and marketing literature are available on Greenliant’s website. Advanced product and technical information (application notes, benchmark test reports, user guides, etc.) is available to customers through their Greenliant sales representative.
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Q6. Are NANDrive samples available?
A6. Greenliant provides customers with a convenient way to order product samples through its online sample request form.
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Q6. Where can I buy NANDrive?
A6. The list of Greenliant authorized distributors and sales representatives is available online.
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