https://eyesonflash.com Technical writing, field notes, and software on NAND, SSD validation, and the tools that make storage behavior visible. en-us https://eyesonflash.com/in-practice/console-and-handheld-storage/ https://eyesonflash.com/in-practice/console-and-handheld-storage/ Fri, 06 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT What the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Steam Deck, other PC handhelds, and Switch 2 accept for added storage, and which of it plays games instead of only holding them. Storage and Memory in Practice https://eyesonflash.com/blog/eyes-on-flash-mcp/ https://eyesonflash.com/blog/eyes-on-flash-mcp/ Fri, 06 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT Eyes on Flash now has a public, read-only MCP server: what it serves, how to connect, which sources it leaves out, and how it runs on Cloudflare's Free plan. Engineering https://eyesonflash.com/in-practice/hdd-versus-ssd/ https://eyesonflash.com/in-practice/hdd-versus-ssd/ Fri, 06 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT Hard drives and SSDs compared on what a terabyte costs, what each draws at idle and under load, and how long a failed drive takes to rebuild. Storage and Memory in Practice https://eyesonflash.com/running-a-nas/nas-apps-and-backup/ https://eyesonflash.com/running-a-nas/nas-apps-and-backup/ Fri, 06 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT Running apps and containers on a NAS, and backing the NAS itself up with snapshots, replication, vendor tools, rclone, restic, Borg and Kopia. Running a NAS https://eyesonflash.com/running-a-nas/nas-health-and-upkeep/ https://eyesonflash.com/running-a-nas/nas-health-and-upkeep/ Fri, 06 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT Keeping a NAS healthy: SMART alerts, scrubs, replacing a drive and the rebuild window, UPS shutdown and updates. Running a NAS https://eyesonflash.com/running-a-nas/nas-network-tuning/ https://eyesonflash.com/running-a-nas/nas-network-tuning/ Fri, 06 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT What 1GbE, 2.5GbE, 10GbE and 25GbE deliver from a NAS, and when SMB Multichannel, jumbo frames, link aggregation and a better network card or switch help. Running a NAS https://eyesonflash.com/running-a-nas/nas-operating-systems/ https://eyesonflash.com/running-a-nas/nas-operating-systems/ Fri, 06 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT NAS operating systems compared, from Synology, QNAP, UGREEN, Asustor and TerraMaster boxes to TrueNAS, Unraid and OpenMediaVault, on cost, updates and hardware. Running a NAS https://eyesonflash.com/running-a-nas/nas-pools-and-filesystems/ https://eyesonflash.com/running-a-nas/nas-pools-and-filesystems/ Fri, 06 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT How a NAS pools and protects its drives with ZFS, Btrfs, Unraid parity or SnapRAID and mergerfs, and how each one grows, rebuilds, scrubs and keeps snapshots. Running a NAS https://eyesonflash.com/running-a-nas/nas-problems-found-too-late/ https://eyesonflash.com/running-a-nas/nas-problems-found-too-late/ Fri, 06 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT Hardware and setup problems NAS owners find after the build, from SMR drives and chip errata to dropping 2.5GbE ports and shared M.2 lanes, and how to check. Running a NAS https://eyesonflash.com/running-a-nas/nas-sharing-and-remote-access/ https://eyesonflash.com/running-a-nas/nas-sharing-and-remote-access/ Fri, 06 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT Sharing a NAS over SMB, NFS and iSCSI, reaching it from outside the house, and locking it down against the ransomware campaigns that hit exposed NAS boxes. Running a NAS https://eyesonflash.com/in-practice/portable-ssds-and-enclosures/ https://eyesonflash.com/in-practice/portable-ssds-and-enclosures/ Fri, 06 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT What USB and Thunderbolt ports carry, what a bridge chip does, why rated and real speed differ, and which port suits which portable SSD or M.2 enclosure. Storage and Memory in Practice https://eyesonflash.com/in-practice/reading-an-ssd-spec-sheet/ https://eyesonflash.com/in-practice/reading-an-ssd-spec-sheet/ Fri, 06 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT What each line on an SSD data sheet means: the conditions behind rated speeds, TBW and DWPD as one write budget, MTBF as a fleet rate, and warranty terms. Storage and Memory in Practice https://eyesonflash.com/running-a-nas/ssds-in-a-nas/ https://eyesonflash.com/running-a-nas/ssds-in-a-nas/ Fri, 06 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT SSDs in a NAS as read and write cache, as ZFS special devices and as the whole pool, with what endurance, TRIM and power-loss protection mean for each job. Running a NAS https://eyesonflash.com/running-a-nas/windows-drive-pooling/ https://eyesonflash.com/running-a-nas/windows-drive-pooling/ Fri, 06 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT Turning a Windows PC into a NAS with StableBit DrivePool, Scanner and CloudDrive, Storage Spaces and SnapRAID, and what pooling does and does not protect. Running a NAS https://eyesonflash.com/working-memory/cxl-memory/ https://eyesonflash.com/working-memory/cxl-memory/ Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT How CXL memory works: the three device types, what each release from 1.0 to 4.0 added, how the OS sees it, and the modules and controllers on sale. Working Memory https://eyesonflash.com/how-storage-works/how-a-hard-drive-works/ https://eyesonflash.com/how-storage-works/how-a-hard-drive-works/ Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT Heads, tracks, CMR and SMR, helium, HAMR and ePMR, and dual actuators: how a hard drive stores and finds data, and what its spec sheet labels mean. How Storage Works https://eyesonflash.com/how-storage-works/pcie-6-and-7/ https://eyesonflash.com/how-storage-works/pcie-6-and-7/ Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT What PCIe Gen6 changes for SSDs: the 256-byte flit and its cost, FEC and replay, L0p, OCP power and heat limits, the first Gen6 drives, and PCIe 7.0 and 8.0. How Storage Works https://eyesonflash.com/in-practice/ssds-for-builders/ https://eyesonflash.com/in-practice/ssds-for-builders/ Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT What an SSD box’s numbers mean, which M.2 slot gets which lanes on AMD and Intel boards, and how to set up and fix a drive in Windows and Linux. Storage and Memory in Practice https://eyesonflash.com/how-storage-works/tape-and-cold-archive/ https://eyesonflash.com/how-storage-works/tape-and-cold-archive/ Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT How LTO tape stores data and why it still wins on cost and power at rest, then what optical archive, glass and DNA storage are today and what is still research. How Storage Works https://eyesonflash.com/networking-for-si/cxl-and-sdxi/ https://eyesonflash.com/networking-for-si/cxl-and-sdxi/ Wed, 04 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT Where CXL memory and SNIA’s SDXI data mover meet storage in SI clusters: checkpoint staging, the KV cache’s trip between servers, and copies between tiers. Networking for SI https://eyesonflash.com/networking-for-si/dpus-and-smartnics/ https://eyesonflash.com/networking-for-si/dpus-and-smartnics/ Wed, 04 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT How a network card with its own processor shows the host a local NVMe drive, runs the NVMe-oF target and encrypts data, and what published tests say it costs. Networking for SI https://eyesonflash.com/networking-for-si/si-cluster-networks/ https://eyesonflash.com/networking-for-si/si-cluster-networks/ Wed, 04 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT What the four networks in an SI cluster carry, why storage stays off the GPU fabric, and how to size it from MLPerf Storage's checkpoint test. Networking for SI https://eyesonflash.com/networking-for-si/ultra-ethernet-and-roce/ https://eyesonflash.com/networking-for-si/ultra-ethernet-and-roce/ Wed, 04 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT What Ultra Ethernet changes against RoCEv2: its own transport, packet spraying and congestion control, and which products are sampling, in market or qualifying. Networking for SI https://eyesonflash.com/benchmarking/201/enterprise-ssd-results/ https://eyesonflash.com/benchmarking/201/enterprise-ssd-results/ Sun, 01 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT My Iometer runs on a Micron 9100 MAX, a Kingston DCP1000 and an Intel DC P4510, compared at matched queue depths and mixes, with latency read beside IOPS. Benchmarking 201 https://eyesonflash.com/benchmarking/201/fio-and-iometer-jobs/ https://eyesonflash.com/benchmarking/201/fio-and-iometer-jobs/ Sun, 01 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT How a benchmark job file pins block size, read mix, queue depth, ramp, runtime and preconditioning, in Iometer and in fio, so a run can be repeated and checked. Benchmarking 201 https://eyesonflash.com/flash-in-devices/flash-in-phones-and-tablets/ https://eyesonflash.com/flash-in-devices/flash-in-phones-and-tablets/ Sun, 01 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT How phone and tablet flash is packaged with LPDDR, from PoP to ePoP and uMCP, and what Android’s memory manager, F2FS and encryption do with it. Flash in Devices https://eyesonflash.com/flash-in-devices/flash-in-small-devices/ https://eyesonflash.com/flash-in-devices/flash-in-small-devices/ Sun, 01 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT What routers, cameras, smartwatches and IoT boards boot from: SPI NOR and SPI NAND, partitions, bad blocks, UBI and power-loss handling. Flash in Devices https://eyesonflash.com/benchmarking/201/reading-enterprise-ssd-reviews/ https://eyesonflash.com/benchmarking/201/reading-enterprise-ssd-reviews/ Sun, 01 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT How five enterprise SSD reviews tested their drives, where their numbers match my Iometer runs at matched settings, and how to read any review’s chart. Benchmarking 201 https://eyesonflash.com/benchmarking/201/steady-state-and-latency/ https://eyesonflash.com/benchmarking/201/steady-state-and-latency/ Sun, 01 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT When a preconditioned SSD is ready to measure under the SNIA test specification, and how to report its latency past the average with percentiles and QoS. Benchmarking 201 https://eyesonflash.com/flash-in-devices/automotive-and-industrial-flash/ https://eyesonflash.com/flash-in-devices/automotive-and-industrial-flash/ Sat, 31 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Why cars and factories need different flash: AEC-Q100 and AEC-Q104 grades, retention, endurance under logging, power-loss protection and the Tesla eMMC recall. Flash in Devices https://eyesonflash.com/flash-in-devices/emmc-explained/ https://eyesonflash.com/flash-in-devices/emmc-explained/ Sat, 31 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT How eMMC works: a controller and NAND in one package on an eight-bit parallel bus, speed modes up to HS400, partitions, command queueing and real parts. Flash in Devices https://eyesonflash.com/flash-in-devices/sd-and-microsd-cards/ https://eyesonflash.com/flash-in-devices/sd-and-microsd-cards/ Sat, 31 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT How SD and microSD cards work: capacity families, bus modes from Default Speed to UHS-III and SD Express, what speed classes promise, and how to test for fakes. Flash in Devices https://eyesonflash.com/networking-for-si/nvme-over-fabrics/ https://eyesonflash.com/networking-for-si/nvme-over-fabrics/ Fri, 30 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT How NVMe over Fabrics carries NVMe commands over RDMA, TCP and Fibre Channel, what published tests say it adds in latency, and how SI storage traffic loads it. Networking for SI https://eyesonflash.com/si/local-ai-on-windows/ https://eyesonflash.com/si/local-ai-on-windows/ Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT How much VRAM, RAM, and disk a local language model needs on Windows, how quantization sets its size, and where Ollama, LM Studio, and WSL keep the files. Memory and Storage https://eyesonflash.com/storage-for-ai/capacity-drives/ https://eyesonflash.com/storage-for-ai/capacity-drives/ Sun, 25 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT What 122TB to 300TB QLC drives do in an SI cluster, why bigger drives write in bigger pieces, and how to read their endurance and hard drive comparisons. Memory and Storage for SI https://eyesonflash.com/storage-for-ai/context-memory/ https://eyesonflash.com/storage-for-ai/context-memory/ Sun, 25 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT How big a model’s KV cache gets, why inference keeps it, and the GPU, CPU memory, SSD, and shared storage tiers that hold it once HBM fills. Memory and Storage for SI https://eyesonflash.com/storage-for-ai/five-minute-rule/ https://eyesonflash.com/storage-for-ai/five-minute-rule/ Sun, 25 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Gray and Putzolu’s five-minute rule redone for flash that answers in microseconds, 512-byte reads, and GPU hosts, with every input sourced or labeled. Memory and Storage for SI https://eyesonflash.com/in-practice/ddr5-for-builders/ https://eyesonflash.com/in-practice/ddr5-for-builders/ Sat, 24 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT What DDR5 speeds, timings, EXPO, XMP, and CUDIMM mean, what AM5, LGA1700, and LGA1851 officially support, and how to fix memory problems on a new build. Storage and Memory in Practice https://eyesonflash.com/si/ai-agents/ https://eyesonflash.com/si/ai-agents/ Wed, 21 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT SI agents, long called AI agents, ranked: Grok Bot, OpenAI Dots, Muse, Tab, Gemini Spark, Claude Duet, Autopilot, local agents, and the storage they need. Memory and Storage https://eyesonflash.com/blog/super-intelligence/ https://eyesonflash.com/blog/super-intelligence/ Wed, 21 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Eyes on Flash now writes SI, not AI, after Executive Order 14434: what the order says, what it leaves alone, and how the site applies it. Reflections https://eyesonflash.com/storage-for-ai/storage-next/ https://eyesonflash.com/storage-for-ai/storage-next/ Mon, 19 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT What NVIDIA’s Storage-Next initiative is, why SI inference reads storage 512 bytes at a time, and what Kioxia, Micron, and SK hynix have shown or planned. Memory and Storage for SI https://eyesonflash.com/photolithography/advanced-packaging/ https://eyesonflash.com/photolithography/advanced-packaging/ Sun, 18 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT InFO, EMIB and Foveros, hybrid bonding and SoIC, bonded NAND and HBM, panels and glass, and co-packaged optics: how chip scaling moved into the package. Photolithography https://eyesonflash.com/in-practice/cloning-and-backup/ https://eyesonflash.com/in-practice/cloning-and-backup/ Sun, 18 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Clone, disk image, or file backup: which you need, what changed when Macrium Reflect Free stopped getting updates, and the free tools still doing each job. Storage and Memory in Practice https://eyesonflash.com/photolithography/cowos/ https://eyesonflash.com/photolithography/cowos/ Sun, 18 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT How CoWoS gets past the reticle limit: the interposer, the S, R, and L variants, the build steps, HBM beside the GPU, and the capacity squeeze. Photolithography https://eyesonflash.com/photolithography/high-na-euv/ https://eyesonflash.com/photolithography/high-na-euv/ Sun, 18 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT High-NA EUV’s anamorphic optics and half field, what comes after it, nanoimprint, and why DRAM took EUV while 3D NAND scaled by stacking instead. Photolithography https://eyesonflash.com/photolithography/how-a-chip-is-printed/ https://eyesonflash.com/photolithography/how-a-chip-is-printed/ Sun, 18 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT How a chip is printed with light: resist, masks, steppers and scanners, the wavelengths from mercury lamps to EUV, and how layers line up within a nanometer. Photolithography https://eyesonflash.com/si/how-ai-knows-anything/ https://eyesonflash.com/si/how-ai-knows-anything/ Sun, 18 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT What a language model’s knowledge is: tokens, weights, attention, and next-token training, what researchers see inside, and why memory bandwidth sets the speed. Memory and Storage https://eyesonflash.com/myths/full-ssd-heavier/ https://eyesonflash.com/myths/full-ssd-heavier/ Sun, 18 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT A full SSD is heavier or lighter than an empty one by about a billionth of a billionth of a gram per terabyte, by chip. Added electrons are not why. Flash Myths, Tested https://eyesonflash.com/photolithography/resolution-and-euv/ https://eyesonflash.com/photolithography/resolution-and-euv/ Sun, 18 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Why chips need ever shorter light: Rayleigh’s equation, immersion lenses, k1 tricks, multi-patterning, resist limits, and how EUV makes 13.5nm light. Photolithography https://eyesonflash.com/storage-for-ai/znand-o-explained/ https://eyesonflash.com/storage-for-ai/znand-o-explained/ Sat, 17 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT What Samsung has said about zNAND-O, NAND packaged with a processor over UCIe for on-device SI: what is claimed, what is simulated, and what is unpublished. Memory and Storage for SI