[HN Gopher] 8Gb USB Flash Drive Endurance Test (2017)
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       8Gb USB Flash Drive Endurance Test (2017)
        
       Author : daxuak
       Score  : 57 points
       Date   : 2021-08-29 17:48 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (goughlui.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (goughlui.com)
        
       | LeoPanthera wrote:
       | This is a bit of an aside but when using dd, larger block sizes
       | aren't always faster.
       | 
       | On modern systems 512k tends to be optimal, smaller sizes around
       | 128k may be better on older/slower systems.
       | 
       | The 8M block size used here is certainly excessive.
        
         | userbinator wrote:
         | Could be an attempt at matching the erase block size of the
         | NAND. Of course due to the FTL and other abstraction layers in
         | between, it probably didn't have the intended effect.
        
       | ugjka wrote:
       | I had an 8Gb drive plugged into my Raspberry pi and it managed to
       | kill it even without any writes happening but I guess I had not
       | disabled the file access time stamp updates
        
         | placatedmayhem wrote:
         | I do wish access times were disabled by default. In my
         | experience, they don't generally provide any useful
         | information, but place unneeded stress on the storage.
        
       | nix23 wrote:
       | Question, anyone knows a proven industrial grade usb-stick ~16G
       | for server 24/7 usage?
        
         | eric__cartman wrote:
         | I would use a decent SSD in a USB to SATA enclosure as a boot
         | drive in a server were I can't fit an additional internal
         | drive.
        
           | nix23 wrote:
           | No place in a pizzabox for that.
        
             | hallway_monitor wrote:
             | There should be room to velcro an M2 enclosure to the front
             | of even a 1U box
        
         | KindOne wrote:
         | Some people posted a few companies in this post from April
         | 2018:
         | 
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16776344
         | 
         | If you want to read the entire thing:
         | 
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16775768 "Raspberry Pi
         | microSD card performance comparison" - April 2018
        
         | chasil wrote:
         | Look for "SLC USB flash" on eBay. Definitely confirm the part
         | specs with the OEM, and maybe test one to confirm longevity.
         | 
         | https://www.ebay.com/itm/201270936497?hash=item2edcaec3b1:g:...
        
           | nix23 wrote:
           | Hey thanks for the tip, i knew about SLC's but i meant
           | something that is really proven, but also small so you can
           | putt it into pizza-form-factor servers.
           | 
           | Something like that:
           | 
           | https://www.atpinc.com/de/products/industrial-ssds-usb-drive
           | 
           | But available and more then 2GB ;)
           | 
           | EDIT: Nice i found something
           | 
           | https://www.swissbit.com/de/produkte/produktsuche/produkte/
        
             | chasil wrote:
             | I see this listing for Oracle/Sun SLC media.
             | 
             | When you say "really proven," do you mean a lifetime of
             | 100k writes, as is normally expected of SLC devices?
             | 
             | p.s. I've bought SwissBit before, and had no problems.
             | 
             | https://www.ebay.com/itm/165027448860?hash=item266c67081c:g
             | :...
        
               | nix23 wrote:
               | >When you say "really proven,"
               | 
               | I mean something like:
               | 
               | We used them for every esxi servers since ~5 years and
               | never had a problem with it.
               | 
               | I just have a really hard time trusting any usb-stick.
               | 
               | But thanks the Oracle hint/link is a good one.
        
               | ComputerGuru wrote:
               | I was not going to comment but then you clarified what
               | you were looking for and I can say "we've used Sandisk
               | Extreme Pro USB 3.0 in 32GB - 128GB in every ESXi server
               | for probably over 5 years without any failures."
               | 
               | I've heard they released a bad SKU that they then
               | retracted - I think it may have been the first 3.1
               | variant, but it's no longer for sale. The only problem is
               | they are bulky, but I believe there is good reason for
               | that.
               | 
               | Does that help?
        
               | chasil wrote:
               | Note that the Oracle flash drives are used, and likely
               | won't have the full 100k remaining lifetime.
               | 
               | "This item was removed from a working machine."
        
               | numpad0 wrote:
               | Useful keyword is DWPD(drive writes per day) but I don't
               | think there are USB sticks rated that way.
        
       | ctoth wrote:
       | I'm using the Bar Plus 128GB plugged into my RT-AX58U to host
       | Diversion, a dns-based adblocker and it wasn't until recently
       | that I realized that Dnsmask was writing a log for every domain
       | resolved... Wonder how much of the drive lifetime I burnt through
       | there.
        
       | userbinator wrote:
       | _The last to fail was the Verbatim Store'n'Go which achieved an
       | impressive 9751 cycles._
       | 
       | Nice to see --- I have a 64MB Verbatim SnG from many years ago
       | with Samsung SLC that has probably been rewritten many times
       | over, yet only a tiny fraction of the rated 100K cycles has been
       | used, and actually has a full binary size (131072 512-byte
       | sectors are accessible).
        
       | chasil wrote:
       | Heating flash media can repair the oxide layer, depending upon
       | temperature and duration.
       | 
       | In 2012, research on short bursts of 800degC heat could vastly
       | extend media lifetime. Supposedly 250deg for several hours has
       | the same effect (assuming the packaging can withstand it).
       | 
       | In view of the shortages of recent years, we should mandate some
       | form of this technology so we don't waste foundary output on
       | throw-away parts (planned obsolescence).
       | 
       | https://m.hexus.net/tech/news/storage/48893-making-flash-mem...
        
         | nine_k wrote:
         | At 250degC, all components would desolder from the PCB.
         | Provided that the components are attached at one side, one
         | would need to be very careful while heating and cooling the
         | device.
        
       | techrat wrote:
       | The article mentions lifetime/longevity/data retention, although
       | not an 8GB drive that had been written to multiple times... I
       | recently purchased a 2GB Sandisk Cruzer Titanium (nostalgia)
       | thumbdrive off eBay, new in package.
       | 
       | Since drives at the time typically had preinstalled software like
       | U3 or some app to encrypt your files, I wondered if a drive as
       | old as this one would still be readable, never having had power
       | since it was packaged up.
       | 
       | It was.
       | 
       | https://i.imgur.com/0dNo5ni.png
       | 
       | 14 years.
       | 
       | It outlived nearly every CDR and DVDR I had.
        
       | holoduke wrote:
       | I am waiting for my raspberry pi running home assistant on a 32gb
       | MicroSD to die. It's running now for about 3 years nonstop. I am
       | amazed it is still running.
        
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       (page generated 2021-08-29 23:00 UTC)