Abstract: Systems and methods for detecting legacy storage devices that may falsely and/or incorrectly report to host systems that they have removable media. Such false or incorrect reporting may cause the host system to periodically poll the storage device as to whether the device is ready for I/O processing. Such polling would be unnecessary and represent a waste of power expended by the host system. In one embodiment, the present system may implement processes that periodically poll storage media and update a database. The database would be a listing of storage devices indicating whether they truly have removable media or falsely report that they have removable media. In another embodiment, the present system may apply some heuristically testing to determine whether a storage device so falsely indicates removable media. In another embodiment, telemetry service may be used by a group of hosts to share data regarding such storage devices.

Abstract: In a transient storage device (TSD) with multiple authentication silos, a host computing device connected to the TSD is configured by the TSD to discover and act upon various types of authentication information in the silos. One or more logical combinations of authentication silos are switched to the authenticated state to grant access to an associated storage area. A particular ordering of authentication silos may be required to achieve a valid combination of authenticated silos. Ordering may be suggested by configuration information in the TSD. Ordering may also be based upon whether or not user input is required for authenticating a given authentication silo, the environment of use of the TSD, or a hierarchy from most trusted to least trusted authentication silo. With this information, the host proceeds with the most efficient authentication sequence leading to a grant of access to the storage area.

Abstract: Systems and methods for detecting legacy storage devices that may falsely and/or incorrectly report to host systems that they have removable media. Such false or incorrect reporting may cause the host system to periodically poll the storage device as to whether the device is ready for I/O processing. Such polling would be unnecessary and represent a waste of power expended by the host system. In one embodiment, the present system may implement processes that periodically poll storage media and update a database. The database would be a listing of storage devices indicating whether they truly have removable media or falsely report that they have removable media. In another embodiment, the present system may apply some heuristically testing to determine whether a storage device so falsely indicates removable media. In another embodiment, telemetry service may be used by a group of hosts to share data regarding such storage devices.

Abstract: Systems and methods for detecting legacy storage devices that may falsely and/or incorrectly report to host systems that they have removable media. Such false or incorrect reporting may cause the host system to periodically poll the storage device as to whether the device is ready for I/O processing. Such polling would be unnecessary and represent a waste of power expended by the host system. In one embodiment, the present system may implement processes that periodically poll storage media and update a database. The database would be a listing of storage devices indicating whether they truly have removable media or falsely report that they have removable media. In another embodiment, the present system may apply some heuristically testing to determine whether a storage device so falsely indicates removable media. In another embodiment, telemetry service may be used by a group of hosts to share data regarding such storage devices.

Abstract: In a transient storage device (TSD) with multiple authentication silos, a host computing device connected to the TSD is configured by the TSD to discover and act upon various types of authentication information in the silos. One or more logical combinations of authentication silos are switched to the authenticated state to grant access to an associated storage area. A particular ordering of authentication silos may be required to achieve a valid combination of authenticated silos. Ordering may be suggested by configuration information in the TSD. Ordering may also be based upon whether or not user input is required for authenticating a given authentication silo, the environment of use of the TSD, or a hierarchy from most trusted to least trusted authentication silo. With this information, the host proceeds with the most efficient authentication sequence leading to a grant of access to the storage area.

Abstract: In a transient storage device (TSD) with multiple authentication silos, a host computing device connected to the TSD is configured by the TSD to discover and act upon various types of authentication information in the silos. One or more logical combinations of authentication silos are switched to the authenticated state to grant access to an associated storage area. A particular ordering of authentication silos may be required to achieve a valid combination of authenticated silos. Ordering may be suggested by configuration information in the TSD. Ordering may also be based upon whether or not user input is required for authenticating a given authentication silo, the environment of use of the TSD, or a hierarchy from most trusted to least trusted authentication silo. With this information, the host proceeds with the most efficient authentication sequence leading to a grant of access to the storage area.

Abstract: Systems and methods for detecting legacy storage devices that may falsely and/or incorrectly report to host systems that they have removable media. Such false or incorrect reporting may cause the host system to periodically poll the storage device as to whether the device is ready for I/O processing. Such polling would be unnecessary and represent a waste of power expended by the host system. In one embodiment, the present system may implement processes that periodically poll storage media and update a database. The database would be a listing of storage devices indicating whether they truly have removable media or falsely report that they have removable media. In another embodiment, the present system may apply some heuristically testing to determine whether a storage device so falsely indicates removable media. In another embodiment, telemetry service may be used by a group of hosts to share data regarding such storage devices.

Abstract: Extension fields in a provisioning certificate in the authentication silo of a transient storage device (TSD) are used to provide secure configuration options for TSDs while operating within the constraints of the current IEEE 1667 standard. Immutable values for configurable settings of the storage device are set in extension fields of a provisioning certificate. The provisioning certificate is then installed on the storage device. The method takes advantage of properties unique to the IEEE 1667 certificate silo specification and ITU-T X.509 certificate specification. The method is implemented while satisfying the security requirements for device configuration and taking advantage of the existing standards definitions as they are, without modification. The method allows particular features present in the device firmware to be enabled or disabled.

Abstract: An interface between a host computing device and a transient storage device (TSD) eliminates the need for a full directory crawl of the storage volume on the TSD to maintain a metadata database. The metadata database is incrementally updated instead of being completely regenerated on every connection between the TSD and a highly capable host. This function helps the host device more efficiently track and maintain exo-file system metadata. Host devices discover and use this new TSD function to efficiently update the metadata database. Host devices provide parameters governing the operation of the TSD to the TSD. Cooperatively, the TSD logs addresses corresponding to storage locations of changes made to the data on the storage volume and, upon discovering a capability of the host device to update the metadata database, the TSD provides discovery to the host device regarding an availability of the metadata database and the log of addresses.

Abstract: In a transient storage device (TSD) with multiple authentication silos, a host computing device connected to the TSD is configured by the TSD to discover and act upon various types of authentication information in the silos. One or more logical combinations of authentication silos are switched to the authenticated state to grant access to an associated storage area. A particular ordering of authentication silos may be required to achieve a valid combination of authenticated silos. Ordering may be suggested by configuration information in the TSD. Ordering may also be based upon whether or not user input is required for authenticating a given authentication silo, the environment of use of the TSD, or a hierarchy from most trusted to least trusted authentication silo. With this information, the host proceeds with the most efficient authentication sequence leading to a grant of access to the storage area.

Abstract: Access rights may be managed using non-volatile memory. The charge retention characteristics in devices with non-volatile memory are used to establish time-limited rights. Time duration is calculated using the floating gate in a storage cell. First, time-limited rights are determined from a license. Second, a set of computer software selects a time-sensitive storage cell, containing the floating gate, in the non-volatile memory that approximates the required time duration in the license.