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Flash Destroyer Tests Limit of Solid State Storage
An anonymous reader writes "We all know that flash and other types of solid state storage can only endure a limited number of write cycles. The open source Flash Destroyer prototype explores that limit by writing and verifying a solid state storage chip until it dies. The total write-verify cycle count is shown on a display — watch a live video feed and guess when the first chip will die. This project was inspired by the inevitable comments about flash longevity on every Slashdot SSD story. Design files and source are available at Google Code."
a live stream linked on slashdot.. ouch..
Flash! Aa-aaahhh!!
Wait, which flash are we talking about here?
I was expecting something cool, like storing a picture, displaying it, and then constantly XORing each pixel with some random number twice, repeatedly, and watching the image decay over time. Although it would appear that it'd need quite a lot of time.
This project was inspired by the inevitable comments about flash longevity on every Slashdot SSD story.
Take that every 'dotter that says bitching on this website doesn't get anything done!
/removestonguefromcheek
Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
I bet the server's IP address is untraceable.
"The cost of freedom is eternal vigilance." -Thomas Jefferson
The fact that you said this shows you spend way to much time on slashdot. The fact that I recognized it, and was one of the first posters in the thread you refer to says the same about me. I wonder if I can find a life for sale on craigslist?
Link to thread in question...
http://ask.slashdot.org/story/10/05/23/1547202/Scientific-RampD-At-Home
Now, to see how much explosives it takes to MAKE it fail!
This is my favorite part! :-)
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced. - Geek's corollary to Clarke's law
+1 Informative :)
But it will be *over nine thousand!!!*
If you have any important data on that drive, urine trouble...
They could add an extra digit to the front of the display showing how many times the other numbers have reached their maximum! Brilliant, 10x the capacity for only one digit more!
A SSD with flash that averages 1,000,000 writes before blocks start to fail but does it gracefully with little/no data loss could be better than one that averages 2,000,000 but goes out in a blaze of glory as soon as the first block fails.
That depends on how you define "better", and for my personal definition, it depends on exactly how glorious a blaze it is. :)
The enemies of Democracy are
He said an oven, not a nuclear fusion core.
-- "Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
When I first read the title of the summary, I thought to myself "Shit, yet another one about Apple versus Adobe..."
This ain't rocket surgery.
That depends on how you define "better", and for my personal definition, it depends on exactly how glorious a blaze it is. :)
Really. Don't all of us Slashdotters love a good explosion? Sure, we mostly prefer them to be scheduled explosions but, still, an explosion is an explosion.
This ain't rocket surgery.
...will the Flash Destroyer hold up under this load?
http://www.bynarystudio.com
That brings to mind an old favorite of mine: the Light Emitting EPROM. The power pins on EPROM chips are in opposite corners. Plug in the EPROM chip backwards and you've hooked the power up backwards. Result: A light emitting EPROM, though one with a very limited service life.