Patent ID: 7649743

Claim:
An open-frame flash-memory drive comprising: a left bracket frame; a right bracket frame; a printed-circuit board assembly (PCBA) that comprises: a circuit board having wiring traces; a plurality of flash-memory chips mounted to the circuit board; a controller chip mounted to the circuit board, the controller chip having a input/output interface circuit for interfacing to an external computer, and a processing unit for accessing the plurality of flash-memory chips in response to commands from the external computer received by the input/output interface circuit; and a connector mounted to the circuit board, for connecting the controller chip to the external computer; wherein the left bracket frame is attached to the circuit board near a left edge of the circuit board; wherein the right bracket frame is attached to the circuit board near a right edge of the circuit board; wherein the connector is attached to the circuit board along a front edge of the circuit board between the left edge and the right edge; wherein the left bracket frame and the right bracket frame only partially enclose the PCBA wherein the plurality of flash-memory chips and the controller chip are open and exposed to air flow; wherein the plurality of flash-memory chips are block-addressable and not randomly-addressable, whereby the left bracket frame and the right bracket frame expose the plurality of flash-memory chips to cooling by air flow.