The invention relates to methods, and an apparatus for data reads in a host performance acceleration (HPA) mode. One method is performed by a host side to include: searching an HPA buffer in a system memory for a logical-block-address to physical-block-address (L2P) mapping entry corresponding to a logical block address (LBA); issuing a switch command to a flash controller to request the flash controller to activate an HPA function, and does not activate an acquisition function for an L2P mapping table, where the host side and the flash controller communicate with each other in an embedded multi-media card (eMMC) protocol; issuing a write_multiple_block command to the flash controller to transfer a first data block to the flash controller, which includes the first L2P mapping entry; and issuing a read_multiple_block command to obtain data corresponding to the first L2P mapping entry from the flash controller.