RoHS Compliant
SATA-Disk Module 4
SDM4 7P/90D Middle Profile Specifications
July 5th, 2013
Version 1.3
Apacer Technology Inc.
4
th
Fl., 75 Hsin Tai Wu Rd., Sec.1, Xizhi, New Taipei City, Taiwan 221
Tel: +886-2-2698-2888 Fax: +886-2-2698-2889
www.apacer.com
SATA-Disk Module 4
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© 2013 Apacer Technology Inc. Rev. 1.3
Features:
Standard Serial ATA Revision 2.6
– Compliance with SATA Revision 2.6
specifications
– SATA 3.0 Gbps
– ATA-compatible command set
Capacities
– 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 GB
Performance*
– Burst read/write: 300 MB/sec
– Sustained read: up to 85 MB/sec
– Sustained write: up to 80 MB/sec
Intelligent endurance design
– Built-in hardware ECC, enabling up to
16/24 bit correction per 1K bytes
– Static/dynamic wear-leveling
– Flash bad-block management
– S.M.A.R.T.
– Power Failure Management
– ATA Secure Erase
– TRIM
NAND Flash Type: SLC
Temperature ranges
– Operation:
Standard: 0°C to 70°C (32 ~ 158°F)
Extended: -40°C to 85°C(-40° ~ 185°F)
– Storage: -40°C to 100°C (-40° ~ 212°F)
Supply voltage
– 5.0 V
±
5%
Power consumption (typical)*
– Active mode: 233 mA@5.0 V
– Idle mode: 75 mA@5.0 V
Connector type
– 7-pin signal connector
– Power segment in two types: power cable
and power cable-less types
Form factor
– Middle profile SATA Disk Module
– Dimension: 58.0 x 24.0 x1.0**, unit: mm
Shock & Vibration***
– Shock: 1500 G
– Vibration: 15 G
MTBF: >2,000,000 hours
Write Protect (optional)
– Enabled by onboard hardware switch
RoHS compliant
*Varies from capacities. The values for performances and power consumptions presented are typical and may vary depending on
flash configurations or platform settings. The term idle refers to the standby state of the device.
**Implies to only the thickness of the module, without including the height/thickness of the connector head.
***Non-operating
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Table of Contents
1. GENERAL DESCRIPTION .................................................................................................... 3
2. FUNCTIONAL BLOCK .......................................................................................................... 3
3. PIN ASSIGNMENTS ............................................................................................................... 4
4. PRODUCT SPECIFICATION ................................................................................................ 6
4.1 CAPACITY .............................................................................................................................................................6
4.2 PERFORMANCE .....................................................................................................................................................6
4.3 ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIFICATIONS.......................................................................................................................7
4.4 MEAN TIME BETWEEN FAILURES (MTBF) ...........................................................................................................7
4.5 CERTIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE .......................................................................................................................7
5. FLASH MANAGEMENT ....................................................................................................... 8
5.1 ERROR CORRECTION/DETECTION .........................................................................................................................8
5.2 FLASH BLOCK MANAGEMENT ..............................................................................................................................8
5.3 WEAR LEVELING ..................................................................................................................................................8
5.4 POWER FAILURE MANAGEMENT...........................................................................................................................8
5.5 ATA SECURE ERASE ............................................................................................................................................8
5.6 S.M.A.R.T............................................................................................................................................................9
5.7 TRIM ...................................................................................................................................................................9
6. SOFTWARE INTERFACE .................................................................................................. 10
6.1 COMMAND SET ...................................................................................................................................................10
7. ELECTRICAL SPECIFICATION ...................................................................................... 11
8. PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS ..................................................................................... 12
8.1 POWER CABLE TYPE...........................................................................................................................................12
8.2 POWER CABLE-LESS TYPE ..................................................................................................................................13
8.3 WRITE PROTECT SWITCH (OPTIONAL)................................................................................................................14
9. PRODUCT ORDERING INFORMATION ........................................................................ 15
9.1 PRODUCT CODE DESIGNATIONS .........................................................................................................................15
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1. General Description
Apacer’s SATA-Disk Module 4 (SDM4) is a high-performance, embedded SSD DOM (Disk on Module)
designed to replace the conventional SATA storage devices. SDM4 can be fitted into a standard Serial
ATA connectors commonly found in desktops, IT-STB, industrial PC and thin client systems. In addition,
SDM4 provides an innovative way for design-in clients with compact host computing systems.
Apacer’s SDM4 is built in with an efficient microcontroller that drives the potential of NAND flash and
delivers optimal performance. With its compact form factor and SATA 3.0 Gbps interface, this product is
well suited for embedded flash storage applications offering customizable and expanded functionalities as
well as more cost-effective designs, better performance and increased reliability.
2. Functional Block
SDM4 includes the SATA and Flash Management controllers, and flash media, as well as the SATA
standard interface. Figure 2-1 shows the functional block diagram.
Figure 2-1: Functional block diagram
Controller
Flash
SATAI Interface
Flash
interface
& ECC engine
Flash
Flash
Flash
Host
SATA 3.0 Gbps
Interface
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3. Pin Assignments
Table 3-1: Signal segment
Name Type Description
Pin 1 GND
Pin 2 RxP + Differential Receive Signal
Pin 3 RxN - Differential Receive Signal
Pin 4 GND
Pin 5 TxN - Differential Transmit Signal
Pin 6 TxP + Differential Transmit Signal
Pin 7 GND
Table 3-2: Power segment
Name Description
Pin 1 VCC (5V)
Pin 2 GND
Signal Pin 1 Power Pin 1 (Vcc)
for the Power
Cable Type
Power Pin 1 (Vcc)
for the Power
Cable-less Type
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Figure 3-1: SATA Cable/Connector Connection Diagram
The connector on the left represents the Host with TX/RX differential pairs connected to a cable. The
connector on the right shows the Device with TX/RX differential pairs also connected to the cable. Notice
also the ground path connecting the shielding of the cable to the Cable Receptacle.
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4. Product Specification
4.1 Capacity
Capacity specification of SDM4 product family is available as shown in Table 4-1. It lists the specific
capacity and the default numbers of heads, sectors and cylinders for each product line.
Table 4-1: Capacity specifications
Capacity Total bytes Cylinders Heads Sectors Max LBA
2 GB 2,011,226,112 3,897 16 63 3,928,176
4 GB 4,011,614,208 7,773 16 63 7,835,184
8 GB 8,012,390,400 15,525 16 63 15,649,200
16 GB 16,013,942,784 16,383 16 63 31,277,232
32 GB 32,017,047,552 16,383 16 63 62,533,296
Notes:
Display of total bytes varies from file systems, which means not all of the bytes can be used for storage.
Cylinders, heads or sectors are not applicable for these capacities. Only LBA addressing applies.
LBA count addressed in the table above indicates total user storage capacity and will remain the same throughout the lifespan of the
device. However, the total usable capacity of the SSD is most likely to be less than the total physical capacity because a small portion
of the capacity is reserved for device maintenance usages.
4.2 Performance
Performances of SDM4 are listed below in table 4-2.
Table 4-2: Performance (Typical)
Capacity
Performance
2 GB 4 GB 8 GB 16 GB 32 GB
Sustained read (MB/s) 75 80 80 85 85
Sustained write (MB/s) 26 50 50 80 80
Note: Results may differ from various flash configurations or host system settings.
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4.3 Environmental Specifications
Environmental specification of SDM4 product family follows military standards, indicated in Table 4-3.
Table 4-3 SDM4 environmental specifications
Item Specification
Operating temperature 0~70(
℃
)
Extended temperature
-40 ~ +85
(
℃
)
Storage temperature -40~100(
℃
)
Vibration (non-operating) 10~2000(Hz), 15(G), sine wave, X, Y, Z axis
Vibration (operating) 20~2000(Hz), 7.69 (Grms), random wave, X, Y, Z axis
Shock (non-operating) 1500(G) half-sine wave,
±X, ±Y, ±Z axis
Shock (operating) 50(G), half sine wave,
±X, ±Y, ±Z axis
4.4 Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)
Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) is predicted based on reliability data for the individual components
in SDM4. The prediction result for SDM4 is more than 2,000,000 hours.
Notes about the MTBF:
The MTBF is predicated and calculated based on “Telcordia Technologies Special Report, SR-332, Issue
2” method.
4.5 Certification and Compliance
SDM4 complies with the following standards:
CE
FCC
RoHS
MIL-STD-810
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5. Flash Management
5.1 Error Correction/Detection
SDM4 implements a hardware ECC scheme, based on the BCH algorithm. It can detect and correct up to
16 bits or 24 bits error in 1K bytes.
5.2 Flash Block Management
Current production technology is unable to guarantee total reliability of NAND flash memory array. When
a flash memory device leaves factory, it comes with a minimal number of initial bad blocks during
production or out-of-factory as there is no currently known technology that produce flash chips free of bad
blocks. In addition, bad blocks may develop during program/erase cycles. When host performs
program/erase command on a block, bad block may appear in Status Register. Since bad blocks are
inevitable, the solution is to keep them in control. Apacer flash devices are programmed with ECC, block
mapping technique and S.M.A.R.T to reduce invalidity or error. Once bad blocks are detected, data in
those blocks will be transferred to free blocks and error will be corrected by designated algorithms.
5.3 Wear Leveling
Flash memory devices differ from Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) in terms of how blocks are utilized. For HDDs,
when a change is made to stored data, like erase or update, the controller mechanism on HDDs will
perform overwrites on blocks. Unlike HDDs, flash blocks cannot be overwritten and each P/E cycle wears
down the lifespan of blocks gradually. Repeatedly program/erase cycles performed on the same memory
cells will eventually cause some blocks to age faster than others. This would bring flash storages to their
end of service term sooner. Wear leveling is an important mechanism that level out the wearing of blocks
so that the wearing-down of blocks can be almost evenly distributed. This will increase the lifespan of
SSDs. Commonly used wear leveling types are Static and Dynamic.
5.4 Power Failure Management
Power Failure Management plays a crucial role when experiencing unstable power supply. Power
disruption may occur when users are storing data into the SSD. In this urgent situation, the controller
would run multiple write-to-flash cycles to store the metadata for later block rebuilding. This urgent
operation requires about several milliseconds to get it done. At the next power up, the firmware will
perform a status tracking to retrieve the mapping table and resume previously programmed NAND blocks
to check if there is any incompleteness of transmission.
5.5 ATA Secure Erase
AATA Secure Erase is an ATA disk purging command currently embedded in most of the storage drives.
Defined in ATA specifications, (ATA) Secure Erase is part of Security Feature Set that allows storage
drives to erase all user data areas. The erase process usually runs on the firmware level as most of the
ATA-based storage media currently in the market are built-in with this command. ATA Secure Erase can
securely wipe out the user data in the drive and protects it from malicious attack.
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5.6 S.M.A.R.T.
S.M.A.R.T. is an abbreviation for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology, a self-monitoring
system that provides indicators of drive health as well as potential disk problems. It serves as a warning
for users from unscheduled downtime by monitoring and displaying critical drive information. Ideally, this
should allow taking proactive actions to prevent drive failure and make use of S.M.A.R.T. information for
future product development reference.
Apacer devices use the standard SMART command B0h to read data out from the drive to activate our
S.M.A.R.T. feature that complies with the ATA/ATAPI specifications. S.M.A.R.T. Attribute IDs shall
include initial bad block count, total later bad block count, maximum erase count, average erase count,
power on hours and power cycle. When the S.M.A.R.T. Utility running on the host, it analyzes and reports
the disk status to the host before the device reaches in critical condition.
Note: attribute IDs may vary from product models due to various solution design and supporting
capabilities.
5.7 TRIM
TRIM, though in capital letters usually, is a memory computation command rather than an abbreviation. It
is mainly a SATA command that enables the operating system to inform the SSD (Solid State Drive)
which blocks of previously stored data are no longer valid, due to erases by the host or operating system,
such as file deletions or disk formatting. Once notified, SSD will begin the discard of the invalid LBAs and
retain more space for itself, in fact, the discarded is no longer recoverable.
When an LBA is replaced by the operating system, as with overwrite of a file, the SSD is informed that the
originally occupied LBA is determined as no longer in use or invalid. The SSD will not save those blocks
in garbage collected sectors. Noticeably, a file deletion command by host or operating system never
actually erases the actual content, rather, just the file is marked as deleted. This issue is even specifically
noticeable for flash based memory devices, such as SSDs. In fact, an SSD will keep garbage collecting
the invalid, previously occupied LBAs, if it is not informed that these LBAs can be erased. Thus, the SSD
would experience a significant performance downfall.
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6. Software Interface
6.1 Command Set
This section defines the software requirements and the format of the commands the host sends to SDM4.
Commands are issued to SDM4 by loading the required registers in the command block with the supplied
parameters, and then writing the command code to the Command register.
Table 6-1: Command set
Code
Command
Code
Command
E5
h
Check Power Mode
F3
h
Security Erase Prepare
06h
Data Set Management
F4
h
Security Erase Unit
90
h
Execute Device
Diagnostic
F5
h
Security Freeze Lock
E7
h
Flush Cache
F1
h
Security Set Password
EA
h
Flush Cache EXT
F2
h
Security Unlock
E
c
h
Identify Device
70h
Seek
E3
h
Idle
E
f
h
Set Features
E1
h
Idle Immediate
C6
h
Set Multiple Mode
91h
Initialize Device Parameters
E6
h
Sleep
C8
h
Read DMA
B0
h
SMART
25
h
Read DMA EXT
E2
h
Stan
d
by
C4
h
Read Multiple
E0
h
Standby Immediate
29
h
Read Multiple EXT
C
a
h
Write DMA
20
h
Read Sector
35
h
Write DMA EXT
24
h
Read Sector EXT
C5
h
Write Multiple
40
h
Read Verify Sectors
39
h
Write Multip
le EX
T
42
h
Read Verify Sectors EXT
30
h
Write Sector
10h
Recalibrate
34
h
Write Sector EXT
F6
h
Security Disable Password
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7. Electrical Specification
Table 7-1: Operating range
Item Description
Required voltage 5
V±5% (
4.75-5.25V)
Operating temperature 0°C to +70°C (standard)
-40°C to 85°C (extended)
Table 7-2: Typical power consumption
Capacity
Modes
2 GB 4 GB 8 GB 16 GB 32 GB
Active (mA) 187 224 233 220 230
Idle (mA) 71 72 72 75 75
Note: Results may differ from various flash configurations or host system settings.
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8. Physical Characteristics
8.1 Power Cable Type
Unit:
㎜
Tolerance: ± 0.25
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8.2 Power Cable-less Type
Unit:
㎜
Tolerance: ± 0.25
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8.3 Write Protect Switch (optional)
Description of Apacer Write Protect:
Apacer implements the Virtual Write scheme that allows write commands to go through the flash
controller and data is temporarily stored, but no data has been actually written into the flash. Once the
host resets or restarts the system, all the temporarily stored data will disappear and nowhere to be found
in the drive. Since the Virtual Write scheme runs at device level, it requires no software or driver
installation and is independent from the host OS.
Write Protect switch
Enable
Disable
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9. Product Ordering Information
9.1 Product Code Designations
A P SDM x x x x G 5 A N – P X X X
Capacit
ies
:
002G: 2GB
004G: 4GB
008G: 8GB
016G: 16GB
032G: 32GB
Serial ATA Flash Module
Apacer Product Code
Apacer Brand
Form Factor
G: 7P/90D
Solution Version
Version Control
Flash type
T: Toshiba
C: Micron
Temperature Range
Blank: Standard
W: Extended Temperature
Power Source Selection
Blank: Power Cable Type
C: Power Cable-less Type
A: Standard
P: Write protect
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9.2 Valid Combinations
7P/90D MP: Power Cable Type
Capacity Standard Extended Temperature
2GB APSDM002GG5AN-PT
APSDM002GG5AN-PTW
4GB APSDM004GG5AN-PT
APSDM004GG5AN-PTW
8GB APSDM008GG5AN-PT
APSDM008GG5AN-PTW
16GB APSDM016GG5AN-PC
APSDM016GG5AN-PCW
32GB APSDM032GG5AN-PC
APSDM032GG5AN-PCW
7P/90D MP: Power Cable-less Type
Capacity Standard Extended Temperature
2GB APSDM002GG5AN-PTC
APSDM002GG5AN-PTWC
4GB APSDM004GG5AN-PTC
APSDM004GG5AN-PTWC
8GB APSDM008GG5AN-PTC
APSDM008GG5AN-PTWC
16GB APSDM016GG5AN-PCC
APSDM016GG5AN-PCWC
32GB APSDM032GG5AN-PCC
APSDM032GG5AN-PCWC
7P/90D MP: Power Cable Type with write protect
Capacity Standard Extended Temperature
2GB APSDM002GG5PN-PT
APSDM002GG5PN-PTW
4GB APSDM004GG5PN-PT
APSDM004GG5PN-PTW
8GB APSDM008GG5PN-PT
APSDM008GG5PN-PTW
16GB APSDM016GG5PN-PC
APSDM016GG5PN-PCW
32GB APSDM032GG5PN-PC
APSDM032GG5PN-PCW
7P/90D MP: Power Cable-less Type with write protect
Capacity Standard Extended Temperature
2GB APSDM002GG5PN-PTC
APSDM002GG5PN-PTWC
4GB APSDM004GG5PN-PTC
APSDM004GG5PN-PTWC
8GB APSDM008GG5PN-PTC
APSDM008GG5PN-PTWC
16GB APSDM016GG5PN-PCC
APSDM016GG5PN-PCWC
32GB APSDM032GG5PN-PCC
APSDM032GG5PN-PCWC
Note: Please consult with Apacer sales representative for availabilities.
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Revision History
Revision Date Description Remark
1.0 12/02/2011 Official release
1.1 1/17/2012
Revised capacity information
Updated Product Ordering Information
Added Power cable-less model
1.2 11/09/2012
Updated Product Ordering Information due to
firmware upgrade
Added Write Protect option
1.3 07/05/2013 Updated Product Ordering Information due to
firmware upgrade
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Global Presence
Taiwan (Headquarters)
Apacer Technology Inc.
4
th
Fl., 75 Hsin Tai Wu Rd., Sec.1
Xizhi, New Taipei City
Taiwan 221
R.O.C.
Tel: +886-2-2698-2888
Fax: +886-2-2698-2889
amtsales@apacer.com
U.S.A.
Apacer Memory America, Inc.
386 Fairview Way, Suite102,
Milpitas, CA 95035
Tel: 1-408-518-8699
Fax: 1-408-935-9611
sa@apacerus.com
Japan
Apacer Technology Corp.
5F, Matsura Bldg., Shiba, Minato-Ku
Tokyo, 105-0014, Japan
Tel: 81-3-5419-2668
Fax: 81-3-5419-0018
jpservices@apacer.com
Europe
Apacer Technology B.V.
Science Park Eindhoven 5051 5692 EB Son,
The Netherlands
Tel: 31-40-267-0000
Fax: 31-40-267-0000#6199
sales@apacer.nl
China
Apacer Electronic (Shanghai) Co., Ltd
1301, No.251,Xiaomuqiao Road, Shanghai,
200032, China
Tel: 86-21-5529-0222
Fax: 86-21-5206-6939
sales@apacer.com.cn
India
Apacer Technologies Pvt Ltd,
# 535, 1st Floor, 8th cross, JP Nagar 3rd Phase,
Bangalore – 560078, India
Tel: 91-80-4152-9061
sales_india@apacer.com
