Re: USB stick checkup - is heavy daily use taking its toll?
Chris Jones wrote:
> I have been using a run-of-the-mill 8GB SanDisk Cruzer Micro for nightly
> backups for c. 6 months and I am curious as to wear and tear.
>
> The smartctl utility does not give me much information: "SMART Health
> Status: OK" + a cryptic "Read defect list: asked for grown list but
> didn't get it" - I don't get it either..
>
> I thought I'd run an e2fsck with the -c "badblocks" option.. took two
> hours and returned zero errors.
>
> But come to think of it, I'm not sure whether running e2fsck makes any
> sense in the first place.. in other words, does some smart technology
> live on the USB stick way below filesystems that might "mask" such
> goings-on anyway?
>
> Just curious how fast my stick is deteriorating ... how soon will I have
> to consider budgeting another..
>
> Thanks,
>
> CJ
>
>
>
>
By running the badblocks you're wearing your stick down.
I don't remember the particulars, but the technology does have a
specific amount of writes per block. Yes, flash based storage does have
an underlying "reallocation" technique, as well as an "even" writing
method, ie. tries to write to each block the same number of times the
other blocks have been written to on average.
It all depends, though I cannot specifically tell you that you need a
new stick within the next x number of months, I'd have a backup, in case
you would need to go to it.
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