Re: USB stick checkup - is heavy daily use taking its toll?
On Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 01:27:34PM EDT, Dan Serban wrote:
> 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..
> By running the badblocks you're wearing your stick down.
Naturally.
Actually, this might be the beginning of an answer .. run e2fsck's until
your stick dies..
:-)
> 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.
That's basically what I am (was.. see below) "curious" about. Couldn't
find much documentation online that looked like somebody out there knew
what they were talking about.
Thanks anyway.. as s/o suggested previously.. looks like my superficial
understanding of flash drives is adequate for the time being.
CJ
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