Dump data from NAND flash with Arduino

A while ago I decided to see if it is possible to read data from a NAND flash memory chip using an Arduino. Although I found out it is possible, it is not quite practical. The ATmega328 Arduino is way too slow to read and transfer large amounts of data. Nevertheless, dumping data is possible. But for common usage, such a slow and limited microcontroller shall not be used for this purpose.

In the previous posts I wired the NAND to a 3.3V Arduino and wrote a basic sketch to communicate with the flash chip and read its ID register. Now I will attempt to read data from the memory and transfer it to PC over serial port. I must say I have no prior experience with NAND memory chips and this is the first time I’m ever attempting this.

Read NAND Flash device signature with Arduino

NAND Flash chips are widely used non-volatile memory devices. They have high storage capacity, fast access time and are reliable, usually being able to withstand 100,000 erase/program cycles. Such chips are available with parallel or serial interface (commonly SPI). While the latter can be easily interfaced to any SPI port and can be read/programmed even by slow microcontrollers, parallel chips are faster and require more data lines (connections) to host microcontroller.

In the previous post I described the way I connected a NAND flash to Arduino (a Pro mini compatible board running at 3.3 V). This time, I'll deal with the limitation of the small MCU and read the NAND signature.

Attempts at reading parallel NAND Flash with Arduino

NAND Flash chips are widely used non-volatile memory devices. They have high storage capacity, fast access time and are reliable, usually being able to withstand 100,000 erase/program cycles. Such chips are available with parallel or serial interface (commonly SPI). While the latter can be easily interfaced to any SPI port and can be read/programmed even by slow microcontrollers, parallel chips are faster and require more data lines (connections) to host microcontroller.

Having an old DSL modem which cannot be flashed with a locked bootloader and unavailable JTAG port I unsoldered its NAND flash. I do not own a parallel memory programmer and I do not intend to buy one for the sole purpose of dumping useless data from this flash. So, I attempted to interface this memory to what I have. At first it seemed it has too many pins to wire it to a common ATmega328p Arduino. But the datasheet revealed something else.