ibm microdrive question(s)?

[Luciano U. Werner]

Unhappily I had to stay with a 128MB (didn't have the $$time$$ to buy a bigger one). These little suckers are absurdly expensive here in Brazil.

[Dan East]

Microdrives are Type II CF cards, which are slightly thicker than Type I. Some devices, such as the HP Jornada Pocket PCs, and most digital cameras, only support Type I cards.<br><br>Also, technically, the actual memory bits that store the info on a CF Memory Card have a limited number of writes before they fail. It is many tens of thousands of writes, but they will not last indefinitely either. Being that CF cards are not currently used by the OS for RAM, the write limitation isn't an issue. They can, however, withstand unbelievably high G-forces, while a microdrive is very sensitive to shock, temperature extremes, and magnetic fields, like any HDD.<br><br>Dan East

[RICoder]

Dan, do you have a link or something with the tech details on the write issue with CF cards?

[Luciano U. Werner]

For now, CF cards are the most pratical, I think. And look at the prices. 2 512MB cards are cheaper then a 1GB microdrive, and less prone to failure. And best of all, no humongous power drain.

[Dan East]

I've seen references around at various times. It looks like the number of write cycles is increasing along with the storage capacity. <br><br> simply states that write/erase cycles are now into the millions: "As with all erasable ROMs, flash memory is limited to a finite number of write/erase cycles. Early designs were only good for tens of thousands of cycles, but some newer designs are rated for a million cycles or more."<br><br> states: "All non-volatile solid-state memory-whether it's EEPROM or flash-can endure a limited number of write cycles; it will, eventually, wear out."<br><br>At one time I swore I read on SanDisk's site the exact specs for a particular size CF card's minimum guaranteed write cycles (back in 1998 I think). It was in the tens of thousands. However, since then I have not been able to find a single flash manufacturer that states in the specs that the hardware is destined to wear out eventually, let alone the exact rating.<br><br>Dan East

[Dan East]

So a moral of the story for us programmers is to not use a CF card in a way that we will write often to it, such as a temp swap file, etc. That would be a bad idea in the first place, because writing to a CF card is a relatively slow process, let alone the fact we may cause the hardware to fail eventually. It wouldn't be hard to write to a file a million times from within a program loop.<br><br>Dan East

[Luciano U. Werner]

But for us mere mortal and dumb users it would take how long to wear out with "normal" use?<br>Some years?

[Dan East]

Assumming that you sync 3 times a day to your storage card, and that each of those three times the exact same file is written to, and assuming you card supports 1 million write cycles, then your card would wear out after 913 years.<br><br>Also, each sector is written to seperately. So if a sector did wear out, then ScanDisk or similar could simply flag that sector as bad, so the OS would ignore it. So its not like the entire card would suddenly fail (although you could lose data when the sector goes bad).<br><br>Dan East

[Luciano U. Werner]

913 years? I'm ok with that. I bet we will even have PM2 before I have to replace my CF card.<br>;)<br>(j/k)

[Chris Edwards]

ok.. enough with the pm2 mocking... it will happen.. look.. i just brought you pm1.5.. well... parts of it.

[suchiaruzu]

Well, it looks like no-one likes the square-logo, so I'll drop it. i will make up something else, but that will take me some time <br>i hope not too long!<br>-shape

[Luciano U. Werner]

Chris, the layout looks more "professional" now to me. Good work. If you continue that way, PM2 won't have nothing new to show.<br>;)

[NYIllustrator]

I like the square logo. Its good in a graphic design sense.

[Jaybot]

i'm on my 3rd 1gb microdrive, and it seems to be that the third has been a charm so far; hasnt died yet, and i've been treating this one like crap, i think thats the key (the first two i pampered and handled very gently). i think it really is about the tough love.  as for the price of a 1gb microdrive versus a 256 or 512mb CF card, i got a screaming deal on it for like 330$ back in december; nowadays, it seems to be available for 320$ almost everywhere.  so i'm still trying to figure out the math on the CF card vs. the microdrive, where the CF is cheaper; because it isnt.

[Luciano U. Werner]

Believe it or not, here in Brazil they would be cheaper. That's if you think something with an absurd price could be cheap, because both a microdrive or a 256MB or more CF card will rip you a new one.<br>If I could, I would have bought a 256MB. Just so that you can have an idea, a 128MB costs a 1/3 of a iPAQ 3670.