In article <m2wtts0x6s.fsf@qqqq.invalid>, shamino@techie.com (David C.)
wrote:

> "Dr. ''Q''" <none@none.none> writes:
> >
> > What's the most stable/safe mini-drive? USB Flash, SD Card, PCMCIA
> > Micro-Drive, other? ...I don't want to lose my data through drive
> > failure.
>
> Flash memory, in general, is very reliable and will last a long time,
> regardless of the brand or form factor.
>
> That being said, some manufacturers have absolutely lousy quality
> control. I would, for instance, never buy one made by PNY - over the
> past few years, I have bought three different PNY devices (one DIMM,
> one SO-DIMM and one CompactFlash card) and all three failed (the RAM
> modules were DOA, the CF card died after a month.)
>
> If you stick with good brands, like Lexar, SimpleTech and SanDisk, you
> shouldn't have any problems.
>
> Of course, your usage will also matter. Don't use them for applications
> that involve a lot of writing (like as a swap file or a temp-file
> directory). Flash memory has a limited number of write- cycles, and
> once it's worn out, it's dead. The number of cycles is typically in
> the millions, but you can plow through this pretty quickly if your
> software is writing stuff to it several times per second.
>
> And always unmount the volume before disconnecting it. Otherwise, you
> may end up with file-system damage that you'll need a disk-repair tool
> or reformat-utility to recover from. In this respect, treat your flash
> drive no different from a hard drive, zip, floppy or other writable
> media format.
>
> -- David


If I need a mini-drive that can do a lot of data-writing, then should I
go with an IBM micro-drive... which is an actual 1" mini-harddisk? Are
they safe?

--


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