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Memory Card Torture Tests

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the because-you-can dept.

saikatguha266 writes "BBC is reporting that five types of memory cards were dipped into cola, put through a washing machine, dunked in coffee, trampled by a skateboard, run over by a child's toy car, given to a six-year-old boy to destroy, smashed by a sledgehammer and nailed to a tree. It was still possible to retrieve photos from the xD and Smartmedia cards while the others didn't survive just the last two tests. "

17 of 236 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Talk about real life experiments... by b374 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    why didn't they try to expose them to high radiation levels... high / low temperatures... magnetic fields... more real life situations.

  2. A pretty pointless experiment.... by drolli · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Besides the fact that "nailing to a tree" is something which is unlikely to happen to my memory cards, probably the outcome depends strongly is the nail goes trough the flash memory or only trough plastic. Furthermore "washing" should be carried out at temperatures from 30-90 degrees, and the results should be interpreted in terms of flipped bits. Hammering is a combination of mechanical stress and vibration, two things which can be separated (and are interestin separate- one tells you if you might put the memory card in your pocket, the other one if you should damp vibrations if you put it onto your bike). Running it over with a toy card after running it over wit h a skateboard (I suppose with sombody on it) will not do additional damage, i guess! And dipping into cola may oxidise the contacts......

    So.... I think the test was not carried out correctly and scientifically......

    1. Re:A pretty pointless experiment.... by moonbender · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Oh well. I mean, on the one hand, you're correct, this wasn't carried out scientifically, but then again, it doesn't have to to be useful. All of the six main tests are representative or real live stress such a card might have to endure.

      I assume the actual article - the BBC's is only an abstract of an article in a UK digital photography magazine - contains more detailed explanations of what the tests entail, for instance at which temperature the cards were washed. The BBC says the cards were "boiled", so that should mean they're washed at 90 - and they survived, which kind of makes any further testing at lower temperatures superfluous. That said, repeated washing might have been interesting as it's somewhat likely the cards would die at some point. However, again, while this might be interesting in a scientific test, it doesn't have a lot of real life value: you are fairly likely to accidently wash one of your flash cards at some point, you're unlikely to do it twice, and increasingly unlikely to do it more often. Unless you're not so smart. ;)

      Hammering is a combination of mechanical stress and vibration...

      I guess it is. But maybe the just presupposed that on the one hand mechanical vibrations don't do anything to a medium that doesn't have any moving parts (probably a reasonable presupposition, but I guess you ought to test it), but more likely and very reasonable is that they thought that the "mechanical stress" part of the "hammering with a slege hammer" action is kind of more significant. I doubt a typical owner of a camera can create much more mechanical stress than with a sledge hammer...

      So in conclusion, while you're right, they could have been more diligent, the test is still quite informative as it is. It's good to know the cards are that rugged.

      --
      Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
  3. Smartmedia cards not indestructable by usurper_ii · · Score: 2, Interesting

    While it is neat they held up to the test, I have had several just quit working and they had little to no abuse at all. One was for my wife's camera and one for my mp3 player...and neither one that went bad was probably much more than a year old.

    Usurper_ii

    --
    Ron Paul
  4. Re:Are they really representative by Ianoo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    To be honest, it sounds like the testers were just getting desperate with the whole nail-to-a-tree thing. They weren't expecting all the cards to survive all the tests, and it would make for a pretty dull magazine article if they just wrote "all the cards are indistructable".

  5. Smartmedia still fragile by jridley · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Regardless of these tests, the fact still remains that the vast majority of friends that have had memory cards fail have been using SmartMedia. Practically every person I know with SmartMedia cameras have at least one card that isn't working.
    I've been using CompactFlash for a long time, and have yet to have a failure. I have everything from 16M cards (used to carry files around) to 1GB cards (hundreds of photos, filled only on vacation). I don't know any of my friends with CF that have ever had a card fail, though a few of them have had filesystem corruption (I blame that mostly on the devices, not the card).

  6. Microwave? by jomas1 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I think it's odd that with all the things they did to these cards, they did not put them through a microwave. It's not like that would have been hard to do and should happen more often to cards than being nailed to a tree.

    --
    http://nyamenation.org/
  7. Re:Are they really representative by lachlan76 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    But who would have though it would survive the 6-year-old????

  8. Washing your memory card by dustbunny26 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    CF cards usually stand a trip through the washer. Just let it dry (no, don't use the dryer.) If you use a liquid fabric softner, it might not work. The advice I got from a Canon rep was to wash it again, but don't add softner.

    DB26

    --
    The dustbunnies are under your bed.....
  9. Obligatory coca cola myth debunking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Anything containing sugar and phosphoric acid will cause damage over a period of time.

    There.

  10. Missed a couple of tests... by GaryOlson · · Score: 5, Interesting
    ..from the real world.

    shuffle your feet thru carpet with nylon footwear and pick up a memory card (in Minnesota in February).

    Have my cat determine the memory card is alive and subsequently attack the memory card

    Have a dog carry the memory card in it's mouth for a couple of hours; then bury the memory card in the back yard.

    --
    Every mans' island needs an ocean; choose your ocean carefully.
  11. How to destroy a Compact Flash card by alien-alien · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Much more real-world than even the dog chewing on your memory card.

    Just insert the card the wrong way up into your card reader. Our Compact Flash card reader is not well keyed and allows this.

    Instant card death on powerup :-(

  12. Re:Use Fuji digital cameras by base_chakra · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The earlier versions of their FinePix line used Smartmedia and now the newer ones use xD cards, so they must know what they're doing. Fuji makes awesome cameras for not too much $$$ also!

    xD-Picture Card was developed by Fujifilm and Olympus, and for years there's been evidence of SmartMedia phasing out of the market.

    After reading a lot of reviews, I bought a FinePix A105 at a low price. While shopping around, however, I counted the xD format as a strike against the FinePix because xD is expensive and isn't widely supported--not even by most multi-card readers. It's good to know that xD performs well, but it still makes me feel somewhat like a Betamax user. Ergonomically, I think Memory Stick (PRO) is what appeals to people most, both for its design and the way in which it's installed/removed; but both xD and Memory Stick demonstrate a conflict of interests: the card size that human hands like best is greater than the card size optimal for installation in digital cameras.

    Worsening the ergonomics issue, some cameras place the xD slot inconveniently behind a door on the bottom of the camera; so if the camera is mounted on a tripod or other stand, you have to detach it before you can access the xD door.

  13. It's a Non-test by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Sorry, but: yawn.

    Real tests would've included rewriting until the flash would die and counting the rewrites.

    I think they didn't have enough real material to fill their papers (much of a recent syndrome).

  14. Tougher, realistic tests? by ChumpusRex2003 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Nice to know these cards are so tough. I've been struggling to think of some conceivable situations which might actually cause accidental damage. 1) Trip to beach (Lots of salt and sandy bits) 2) Immersion under pressure (dropped in swimming pool) 3) Magnetic fields (accidentally taken for an MRI scan) 4) Ionizing radiation (Multiple airport X-rays) 5) Extremes of temperature (left in car in winter)

  15. Re:Talk about real life experiments... by PingPongBoy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I suppose real life for a space probe would involve high radiation, temperature variations, etc. Nail to a tree, folks? Well, consider pucture with a fast meteorite.

    The one-nail test isn't quite enough though. It could be luck that saves a memory card from a puncture. Potentially destructive tests need to be repeated methodically.

    --
    Know your pads. One time pad: good for cryptography. Two timing pad: where to take your mistress.
  16. Depends by HermanAB · · Score: 2, Interesting
    on where exactly you put that nail...

    Circuit boards are washed during manufacture in something closely resembling a dishwasher, using orange oil. Puting them through a home dish washer is nothing special.

    --
    Oh well, what the hell...