I'm aware that all flash media, thumb drives, SD cards, CF cards, etc, have a limited lifetime in terms of write--erase--rewrite cycles. Are there tests or techniques that will notice that flash media might be headed for the great bit bucket -- preferably long before they die and there is data loss?
I use SD and µSD not only in my cameras but also in my phone and tablets. In addition to the media that I have filed and catalogued, (laugh) I've traded a drawer filled with 3.5-in diskettes for a cigar box filled with SD-chips of various sizes. When I need media, I'll choose one. Check for useful contents and copy it. Format the media, and press on. I'm looking for some way to test if that media is nearing death or has other trouble before I put it into use.
I'd also like some utility that I can use on my workstation at mount time. During mount processing, I'd run the utility and announce the health of the media somehow.
Thanks in advance,
~~~ 8d;-/ Dan
seeking test(s) to detect pending flash media troubles
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SaintDanBert
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seeking test(s) to detect pending flash media troubles
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
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Re: seeking test(s) to detect pending flash media troubles
IDK; for SSDs you just look at the S.M.AR.T. data. You can access that from the Disks application (package: gnome-disk-utility). I doubt that applies to memory cards.
Number of rewrites depend on flash technology used. Most important is whether it uses SLC (single-level cell), MLC (multi-) or TLC (tripple-) chips. You can generally find that out from the manufacturer (at least for SSDs--but this is qually important to other storage devices that use flash chips). See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_mem ... _endurance for general write endurance of different flash chips.
With wear leveling and over provisioning, even TLC chips will last a long time: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6459/sams ... f-tlc-nand. An endurance of just 1000 write cycles, still sums up to having a lifespan of almost 12 years if you write 10 GB of data every day. Granted, memory cards might not have wear leveling or over provisioning...
Number of rewrites depend on flash technology used. Most important is whether it uses SLC (single-level cell), MLC (multi-) or TLC (tripple-) chips. You can generally find that out from the manufacturer (at least for SSDs--but this is qually important to other storage devices that use flash chips). See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_mem ... _endurance for general write endurance of different flash chips.
With wear leveling and over provisioning, even TLC chips will last a long time: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6459/sams ... f-tlc-nand. An endurance of just 1000 write cycles, still sums up to having a lifespan of almost 12 years if you write 10 GB of data every day. Granted, memory cards might not have wear leveling or over provisioning...
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SaintDanBert
- Level 4
- Posts: 449
- Joined: Sat Feb 20, 2010 4:04 pm
- Location: Covington, LA USA
Re: seeking test(s) to detect pending flash media troubles
The package gnome-disk-utility holds two utility programs:
It makes sense that this relatively stupid devices (flash-media everything) lack S.M.A.R.T. firmware. That says I must find some other way if one exists.
Thanks for the tip,
~~~ 8d;-/ Dan
- gnome-disk-image-mounter
- gnome-disks
It makes sense that this relatively stupid devices (flash-media everything) lack S.M.A.R.T. firmware. That says I must find some other way if one exists.
Thanks for the tip,
~~~ 8d;-/ Dan