SPI NOR FLASH with FatFS in nRF52832

RE: SPI NOR FLASH with FatFS in nRF52832

HerreraVanHalen — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 15:54:44 GMT

Hi
Ok, right now I'm taking the course on DevAcademy, once I finish the course I'll start migrating my app to the nRF Connect SDK and modifying the FS examples (FATFS and littlefs) to work with Serial NOR FLASH. If I have any problem I will let you know through this ticket.

Thanks for your time,

Fernando

RE: SPI NOR FLASH with FatFS in nRF52832

Simonr — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 06:57:06 GMT

The fatfs driver and library for the nRF5 SDK won't be updated/supported and is only in maintenance mode, as we have shifted our focus to the nRF Connect SDK, so our recommendation would be to move to the nRF Connect SDK for any new projects in general, as that is the SDK that will be supported, updated and have the latest bug fixes.

If you're new to working with the Zephyr RTOS I would recommend checking out the DevAcademy that will get you started and up and running with the nRF Connect SDK. We also have FS sample applications both for FATFS and littlefs for a place to start out with your file system application.

Best regards,

Simon

RE: SPI NOR FLASH with FatFS in nRF52832

HerreraVanHalen — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 03:11:02 GMT

Hi Simon!

We have an android application, where we create files and then send them via BLE from a GATT server (APP) to a GATT client (nRF52832).

Our GATT Client is the nRF52832 chip, once the data is received by the GATT Client (Files), the nRF52832 has to store them in FLASH in the form of a file, since we need to be able to read, write and delete files.

Is this a requirement for your project?

Yes, we need a filesystem that mounts to NOR FLASH properly, and FatFS seems like the best alternative. The fastest solution would be to use SD, but we want to optimize costs, and we are not going to use a lot of storage capacity (Not for now), we intend to use a NOR FLASH of 4MB and a maximum of 8MB.

We have projects with USB and FATFS mounted on SPI NOR FLASH working properly with Microchip's PIC32MX family using the Harmony V3 framework, I tried migrating the code to nRF52832 but was unsuccessful, it doesn't work properly.

What do you recommend? Thanks for your time.

Best regards,

Fernando

RE: SPI NOR FLASH with FatFS in nRF52832

Simonr — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 13:04:22 GMT

Is there a specific reason you're using FatFS instead of the standard SPI driver for the device you're using as an external flash? The FatFS module is rather old and contain a few bugs that are hard to do something about, and it will likely be much easier to use the SPI "as intended" instead of forcing a FatFS onto it. Is this a requirement for your project? If not I think it would save you a lot of sweat and tears to drop it.

Best regards,

Simon