Arduino Solves Some Data Storage Headaches with New POSIXStorage and UnifiedStorage Libraries

Arduino has announced the release of two new storage handling libraries, designed to offer simpler and more user-friendly access to local storage devices — without, the team claims, having to dig deep into the nitty-gritty.

"At Arduino, we’re always on a mission to make development easier and more accessible. That’s why we’re excited to introduce two new libraries, Arduino_POSIXStorage and Arduino_UnifiedStorage, designed to simplify how you handle data and storage in your Arduino projects," the Arduino team says of its new releases. "These libraries empower you to do that faster, and with less complexity."

The first library, Arduino_POSIXStorage, is designed to offer a standardized and simplified means of accessing and storing data on local SD cards and USB storage devices, using either FAT32 or the microcontroller-centric LittleFS file systems. For devices connected over a USB bus to suitably-equipped Arduino microcontrollers, it even supports hotplug operations — allowing you to remove and reinsert storage devices without having to reboot the microcontroller.

For those who need more, there's the second library: Arduino_UnifiedStorage. This, the Arduino team explains, does everything the Arduino_POSIXStorage library does and more: adding support for storage internal to the microcontroller, offering easier file and folder handling, easy data transfer between storage devices types, better file navigation, and the ability to handle multiple partitions on a single quad-SPI flash device, all using a unified and user-friendly interface.

"Both libraries come with practical examples that help you dive right in, covering real-life scenarios such as data logging and storage backup," the Arduino team claims. "We've also rigorously tested these libraries to ensure they work seamlessly on various devices, giving you confidence in their performance and robustness."

The new Arduino storage storage libraries are now available in the Library Manager of the Arduino IDE, and have been published to the Arduino_POSIXStorage and Arduino_UnifiedStorage GitHub repositories under the reciprocal GNU Lesser General Public License 2.1; the are compatible with the Arduino Portenta H7, Portenta C33, Opta, and Portenta Machine Control boards, with more to follow.