Coding for flash memories

Data storage devices rely upon error detection and correction (EDAC) codes to ensure highly reliable information retrieval. Optical storage devices, such as CDand DVD-based recorders, allocate significant overhead for the redundancy introduced by the encoding of data into codewords. High-performance hard disk drives also devote substantial overhead for EDAC codes that can correct multiple erroneous bytes within a codeword. The powerful codes used in these storage devices are the culmination of decades of research and development, and efforts to design more powerful and efficient EDAC coding algorithms are ongoing.