Abstract
Use of flash memory as a storage medium is becoming popular in diverse computing environments. However,
because of differences in interface, flash memory requires a hard-disk-emulation layer, called FTL
(flash translation layer). Although the FTL enables flash memory storages to replace conventional hard
disks, it induces significant computational and space overhead. Despite the low power consumption of
flash memory, this overhead leads to significant power consumption in an overall storage system. In this
paper, we analyze the characteristics of flash-based storage devices from the viewpoint of power consumption
and energy efficiency by using various methodologies. First, we utilize simulation to investigate
the interior operation of flash-based storage of flash-based storages. Subsequently, we measure the performance
and energy efficiency of commodity flash-based SSDs by using microbenchmarks to identify the
block-device level characteristics and macrobenchmarks to reveal their filesystem level characteristics.