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.



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On 1/26/05 5:30 PM, in article 41f823b5$0$25885$a8266bb1@news.titannews.com,
"Dr. ''Q''" <none@none.none> wrote:

> 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.
>
>
>
> .................................................. ..............
>
> Posted via TITANnews - Uncensored Newsgroups Access
>>>>> at http://www.TitanNews.com <<<<
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>

I've had a Sonnet Piccolo 512 for a year with no issues at all. Just
replaced with a Lexar 1GB Jump Drive (same physical dimensions) for $70.00

Incredible!
--
Brian Ehni

In article <41f823b5$0$25885$a8266bb1@news.titannews.com>, "Dr. ''Q''"
<none@none.none> wrote:

>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.

Nothing is perfect.
Backup your backups.

--
* PAUL K. BRANDON paul.brandon@mnsu.edu *
* Psychology Dept Minnesota State University *
* 23 Armstrong Hall, Mankato, MN 56001 ph 507-389-6217 *
* http://www.mnsu.edu/dept/psych/welcome.html *

"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

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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Joe <joe@joe.puck> writes:
>
> 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?

They're made by Hitachi now (unless you get the Seagate brand).

I haven't actually used one, but I haven't heard of any serious problem
with them either. It's worth noting that every iPod mini has a 4G
Hitachi microdrive in it.

It should be noted, however, that microdrives are slightly larger than
most Compact Flash cards (the CF type-II form factor.) They won't fit
in a type-I CF slot.

Also, some CF interfaces may not provide enough power to spin-up a
microdrive.

I have no problem with microdrives, but you should make sure your
device is compatible with them before you actually buy one. You can
usually find out by reading the packaging.

-- David