A memory system includes an interface circuit configured to connect to a host device, a controller electrically connected to the interface circuit, and a nonvolatile semiconductor memory electrically connected to the controller. The controller is configured to transmit a first response in response to a power supplied from the host device via the interface circuit, upon receipt of a first command from the host device after transmitting the first response, determine a status of data stored in the nonvolatile semiconductor memory, and transmit to the host device a second response including the determined status of the data stored in the nonvolatile semiconductor memory.

Delaying deletion of a dataset, including: associating an eradication timer with the dataset, wherein the eradication timer specifies an amount of time to delay a requested deletion of the dataset; determining that the amount of time to delay the requested deletion of the dataset should be modified; and modifying the eradication timer to specify a modified amount of time to delay the requested deletion of the dataset.

A computing device includes an interface configured to interface and communicate with a dispersed storage network (DSN), a memory that stores operational instructions, and a processing module operably coupled to the interface and memory such that the processing module, when operable within the computing device based on the operational instructions, is configured to perform various operations. A computing device receives a data access request for an encoded data slice (EDS) associated with a data object. The computing device compares a slice name of the data access request with slice names stored within RAM. When the data access request slice name compares unfavorably with those stored slice names, the computing device transmits an empty data access response that includes no EDS to the other computing device without needing to access a hard disk drive (HDD) that stores EDSs. Alternatively, the computing device transmits a data access response that includes the EDS.

A memory system includes an interface circuit configured to connect to a host device, a controller electrically connected to the interface circuit, and a nonvolatile semiconductor memory electrically connected to the controller. The controller is configured to transmit a first response in response to a power supplied from the host device via the interface circuit, upon receipt of a first command from the host device after transmitting the first response, determine a status of data stored in the nonvolatile semiconductor memory, and transmit to the host device a second response including the determined status of the data stored in the nonvolatile semiconductor memory.

Optimizing generalized transfers between storage systems including identifying, by a first storage system, a request to transfer source data from the first storage system to a second storage system, wherein the first storage system implements a first storage architecture and the second storage system implements a second storage architecture; identifying difference information between the source data that is stored on the first storage system using the first storage architecture and existing data that is stored on the second storage system using the second storage architecture; and transferring, in dependence upon the difference information, a subset of the source data from the first storage system to the second storage system.

Methods and systems for a networked storage system are provided. One method includes: generating, by a first node, a dummy entry in a storage location cache of the first node, the dummy entry associated with a read request received by the first node for data stored using a logical object owned by a second node; receiving, by the first node, an invalidation request to invalidate any storage location entry associated with the data, the invalidation request sent in response to the second node receiving a write request to modify the data; invalidating, by the first node, the dummy entry; receiving, by the first node, a response to the read request from the second node with the requested data; and replacing, by the first node, the dummy entry with a storage location entry and invalidating the storage location entry based on the invalidated dummy entry.

Initializing a computing system using dormant pages includes marking a set of guest physical addresses as dormant. It further includes, for each node in a plurality of physical nodes, designating a set of real physical addresses for zeroing. An operating system is executing collectively across the physical nodes.

Storage managers are used in data storage management systems for license distribution, compliance, and updates. A licensed quota is managed at an aggregate level applicable to a collective plurality of storage operation cells and not by licensing each individual storage operation cell. A multi-cell environment belonging to a given customer is licensed by using an enhanced storage manager in each cell. One storage manager is a “license server” to the other storage managers or “child licensees.” A licensor issues a global license to the customer's designated license server, which distributes child licenses and manages other licensing aspects. Rather than licensing usage for individual storage operation cells, licensed usage is managed at an aggregate level using the license server and child licensees in a “self-service” model.

A memory system includes a memory device including a controller, a nonvolatile memory including physical blocks, a physical block being a unit of data erasure, and a volatile memory that stores block mapping data that maps each physical block to a free or an active physical block and indicates an erase count thereof. The memory system further includes a host device configured to receive the block mapping data from the memory device, compare a first erase count of a free physical block with a second erase count of an active physical block and determine whether a predetermined condition is met, and upon determining that the predetermined condition is met, cause the controller to copy data in the active physical block to the free physical block, and cause the controller to update the block mapping data to remap the active and free physical blocks to free and active physical blocks, respectively.

Dynamically managing control information in a storage device, including: querying, by an array management module executing on a storage array controller, the storage device for a location of control information for the storage device, the control information describing the state of one or more memory blocks in the storage device; and issuing, by the array management module in dependence upon the location of the control information for the storage device, a request to retrieve the control information for the storage device.