Re: Memory Stick Life Span

On Sat, 22 Oct 2005 14:14:07 GMT, "David J Taylor"
<david-taylor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>ASAAR wrote:
>> On Sat, 15 Oct 2005 12:58:48 GMT, David J Taylor wrote:
>>
>>> sony "memory stick" premature failure
>>>
>>> produces 650 hits in Google.
>>>
>>> I wonder if when the stick becomes full it takes longer to write, and
>>> early removal from the camera or card reader causes the problem?
>>
>> Only mechanical drives are likely to take longer to write as they
>> fill, due to seek times, especially if there's fragmentation. Flash
>> RAM shouldn't, except for one thing. If a camera stores too many
>> files in a single directory (more than say, several hundred), reads
>> and writes can become extremely slow if unlike Windows, real RAM
>> isn't used for directory buffering. This used to sometimes cause
>> large slowdowns on old MSDOS computers that didn't load buffer
>> utilities such as SMARTDRV. I'd be very surprised if any but a few
>> high end DSLRs use large RAM buffers for this purpose.
>
>Fragmentation exists in both disk and solid state memory, requiring more
>reads by the OS (whatever that is), so write times can be longer. I found

But unlike HDs memory sticks and CF do not need to be defraged. They
only need the files erased or deleted. Formatting is optional, but
deletes the directory structure as well. Many cameras will take a
formatted card and create their own directories if none exist (E20N
and D70). They will also allow interchangeable use between cameras in
the case of the E20N and D-70. I can shoot 10 photos in one camera,
pull the CF card and put it in the other an continue. When I go to
read the card (in a card reader) I will find two directory structures.
One for each camera.

>that having many files (more than 100) in a FAT-16 directory caused
>noticeably slower write times. I do doubt this is the cause, though. I
>was looking for something which got worse with time, to match the OP's

I've not noticed this in the D-70 where I occasionally put up to 180
or 190 photos on a one Gig CF card. Then again I've not timed the
operation.

Pulling a card too soon during a write would trash a file and would
require deleting the file, or possibly reformatting the card.
Sometimes, none the files will transfer when this happens but
deleting the offending file usually fixes it. I've done it twice over
the years and was able to get by without having to format.

I have a mix of 250 meg and one gig cards. Other than the original
format they have never been formatted again *except* as an experiment
as to formatting them in the camera and in the card reader. You just
have to remember to tell the system which format to use when using the
computer to format.

I copy the files to one computer and move them from the card to a
second computer hence no formatting or deleting in the camera is
necessary. I do occasionally delete the obviously bad image in the
camera.

The only thing I can think of that would regularly cause *cards* to go
bad prematurely (I've never had one go bad) is excessive static
electricity, radiation, or excessive exposure to X-Rays. (store the
card or camera on a smoke detector, or carbon monoxide detector? Have
Radon gas in the basement?

Static electricity is the most likely culprit unless there is a
problem with the specific camera. The OP sounded like there wasn't.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

>report.
>
>David
>
.

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