Fusion-io ioDrive Low-Level Formatting
Please note that this article / this category refers either on older software / hardware components or is no longer maintained for other reasons. This page is no longer updated and is purely for reference purposes still here in the archive available. |
---|
Just like SSDs, a Fusion-io ioDrive uses flash memory chips in the background to store data. If you want to use a previously used ioDrive for a new purpose, you can perform a low-level format of the ioDrive before creating the file system. This increases the overall possible performance for further operation. But by doing so, all data of the ioDrive will be lost. With SSDs you have similar options - please see SSD Secure Erase.
fio-detach
Before you perform a low-level format, you must release the corresponding device using fio-detach. The respective device name can be identified as fio-status:
test-server:~# fio-detach /dev/fct0 Detaching: [====================] (100%) \ test-server:~#
fio-format
Now you can run fio-format:
test-server:~# fio-format /dev/fct0 Creating a device of size 322.55GBytes (300.40GiBytes). Using block (sector) size of 512 bytes. WARNING: Formatting will destroy any existing data on the device! Do you wish to continue [y/n]? y Formatting: [====================] (100%) \ Format successful. test-server:~#
fio-attach
Then you can reattach the device again:
test-server:~# fio-attach /dev/fct0 Attaching: [====================] (100%) - fioa test-server:~#
Device is Activated
The device is now activated. You can see the name of the block device in fio-status or /proc/partitions (in this case, the device /dev/fioa):
test-server:~# cat /proc/partitions major minor #blocks name 8 0 312571224 sda 8 1 1052226 sda1 8 2 8393962 sda2 253 0 314993344 fioa test-server:~#
Additional Information
- Tuning Techniques for Writes (Fusion-io Knowledge Base)
Author: Werner Fischer Werner Fischer, working in the Knowledge Transfer team at Thomas-Krenn, completed his studies of Computer and Media Security at FH Hagenberg in Austria. He is a regular speaker at many conferences like LinuxTag, OSMC, OSDC, LinuxCon, and author for various IT magazines. In his spare time he enjoys playing the piano and training for a good result at the annual Linz marathon relay.
|