("semi" top posted since that seems to be how this thread is going "so far") > the flash is written to several million times in a year, [...] > quality of the flash seems to be much better than it was. > [...] a firewall using a hard drive [...] already has filesystem errors. > No CF box I built has failed yet. Well, in a way that may sound paradoxical; on the other hand, CF doesn't have any moving parts, and hard drives do... Hmmm... -- Mike Schwartz Glendale AZ schwartz@acm.org On 9/19/07, Jorge Delacruz wrote: > The cheap consumer stuff at Fry's now comes with a > lifetime warranty. > > Also, I use the cheap limited warranty compactflash in > my firewalls and they are still in service, almost 2 > years later. I think we can assume the flash is > written to several million times in a year, so the > quality of the flash seems to be much better than it > was. > > Funny thing - I built a firewall using a hard drive a > year ago, and it already has filesystem errors. No CF > box I built has failed yet. > > JD > > > Alan Dayley wrote: > > keith smith wrote: > > > >>I wonder how the flash-based data storage will last. > It is my > >>understanding flash-based data storage has a finite > life span and wonder > >>what that really means. > >> > >>Is it good for a year, two years, five years? Can I > add a hard drive? > >> > >>It is an exceptional value and at $199 it is almost > worth getting just > >>to mess with. > > > > > > See my comments from more than a year ago: > > > > > http://lists.plug.phoenix.az.us/lurker/message/20060504.231037.e6c110af.en.html > > > > Much of what I said then still holds true. However, > flash memory and > > flash controller technologies continue to improve > and progress at a > > rapid rate. I think even a consumer grade flash > device should last more > > than a year these days, unless it is the cheap, > no-name stuff. > > > > I would hope that Asus is using higher grade stuff > in this little > > computer since it is the sole boot and data storage > media. There are > > also tweaks that can be made to the kernel and > system logging and other > > things to drastically minimize the number and > frequency of small writes > > to the media. They could also be using a file > system that is tailored > > to flash media. Combining all of these factors, the > > flash media could last many years. > > > > I'd like to see a tear-down article with pictures > for one of these > > little computers. That would be fun. > > > > Alan > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > PLUG-discuss mailing list - [...] ____________________________________________________________________________________ > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - [...] --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss