Somebody in the thread at some point said: > Andy Green wrote: > >> They have unlimited reads... but the number of writes possible before >> failure is decoupled from the write limitations of the underlying flash >> cell, it is MUCH larger than the datasheet value for the flash: >> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wear_levelling > > Thanks, that is very interesting. > I see the dangers of flash, > but there is something attractive about the idea > of a tiny computer with no moving parts. Absolutely! I installed Fedora on a 4GB flash stick with no HDD and it is GREAT -- it got a lot greater after I swapped it onto one of these "dual channel" USB sticks though, on a cheapo 4GB stick it booted and acted noticeably slower. This was on a fanless device, so it was 100% silent, 100% normal Fedora. You get something over 2GB free on a 4GB stick after a typical install. I also use an ARM9 box I designed for a customer with a 1GB USB stick as my mailserver (postfix + dovecot + gps greylisting + procmail) for about 16 months, that takes ~ 1W (I power it from my firewall USB port) and is again completely silent. The same 1GB USB stick has shown no sign of fatigue after over a year eating 500 - 1000 mails a day, FWIW, formatted ext3. -Andy
