ITR: Ubiquitous Mobile Storage

Princeton University, Princeton NJ

Investigators

Abstract

One consequence of the phenomenal storage density improvement is the emergence of highly compact disk storage that can be integrated into various computing and networking devices of various shapes and forms. Our conjecture is that mobile storage will become a dominant form of storage in the near future, especially for personal user data, subsuming conventional disks enshrined in server rooms. This proposal describes a project that studies how to build, manage, and use discrete storage devices to form ad hoc, distributed storage systems. In this project, we propose to build system software to intelligently coordinate the discrete storage elements. The system has four core mechanisms: (1) a multicast-like data location mechanism, (2) an invalidation mechanism for purging obsolete data from the system, (3) a snapshot mechanism for supporting sharing and backup, and (4) a storage level solution that can support existing file systems. In this proposal, we describe how combinations of these four core mechanisms allow us to achieve our consistency, transparency, reliability, security, and performance goals. Furthermore, the data management needs addressed by this project are by no means limited to traditional desktop applications. As the data management functionalities are separated from cumbersome generic computing devices, and as these functionalities are cleanly encapsulated in modular small form factor devices that can readily interact with other consumer electronic devices (such as cameras, MP3 players, phones, and email devices), these application-specific devices would be freed from the burden of having to solve and re-solve a difficult mobile storage problem, and we may multiply the utility of these devices and potentially foster new applications.