Flash File Systems

HCC-Embedded is the foremost vendor of file systems for embedded applications, with a lineup of finely crafted products that’s second to none. HCC’s portfolio includes these

SAFE-FAT – High-performance, failsafe, FAT12/16/32
SAFE – High-performance, failsafe
TINY – Failsafe, runs in minimal environments
FAT – High-performance, FAT12/16/32
THIN – FAT12/16/32, runs in minimal environments

HCC’s products run on virtually any CPU/controller combination, in any operating environment, with any operating system, or without an operating system. HCC realizes that one size does NOT fit all. With HCC, the developer can choose the most appropriate system for the application.

HCC products are used in aerospace, automotive, consumer, industrial control, instrumentation, medical, security, and a host of other applications.

All HCC-Embedded products are licensed on a royalty-free basis and distributed in full source form.

File System Comparison Table
Key: na - not aplicable, d - in development Note: 1 Approximate numbers based on ARM7 at high optimization 2 The RAM usage depends on the configuration and flash type. HCC provides a tool for calculating this number 3 all NAND flash devices are supported; all will operate better with help of a NAND flash controller 4 All types of NOR flash are suppoerted 5 NOR flash only 6 Needs driver support to do this 7 When used with HCC's SafeFTL 8 This is any NOR flash that has small erasable sectors; typically <4K. This includes many types of serial flash and also the integrated flash of some microcontrollers.
	SafeFLASH	TINY	THIN	FAT	SafeFAT
Code Size¹	40K	10K	4-12K	35K	45K
RAM Size	²	<256Bytes	0.7K<x<2K	>35K	>6K
Fail-safe	yes	yes	no	no	yes
RTOS Abstraction	yes	yes	no	yes	yes
ANSI C	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Long filenames	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Unicode	yes	no	no	yes	yes
Multiple Open Files	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Multiple user of open files	yes	no	no	yes	yes
Multiple volumes	yes	no	no	yes	yes
Multisector read/write	na	na	no	yes	yes
Partition Handling	no	no	no	yes	yes
Media error handling	yes	no	no	yes	yes
Test suite	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Imaging tool	yes	d	na	na	na
Performance	high	low	low-medium	high	high
Cache options	yes	no	no	yes	yes
Zero copy	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Static wear leveling	yes	no	na	na	na
Dynamic waer leveling	yes	yes	na	na	na
Re-entrant	yes	yes	no	yes	yes
CAPI suport	yes	no	no	yes	yes
Secure delete option	yes⁵	no	no	yes⁶	yes⁶
FAT12/16/32 compatible	no	no	yes	yes	yes
Media Types
NAND flash³	yes	no	yes⁷	yes⁷	yes⁷
NOR flash⁴	yes	no	no	no	no
Small sector NOR flash⁸	yes	yes	no	no	no
MMC/SD/SDHC cards	no	no	yes	yes	yes
CF cards	no	no	yes	yes	yes
HDD	no	no	yes	yes	yes
USB MST	no	no	yes	yes	yes
RAM	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes

Flash File Systems

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