Hello,

This question is more hardware-related, but as this is a common issue
I thought I'd post it here...

We are developing a homecare application on XPe, and are currently
using a SanDisk 4GB CF-card. It is partitioned into 2 parts, the first
one (500MB) contains the EWF-protected operating system, the second
is for user data storage (couple of GB's).

System upgrades (on the EWF-protected partition) are done only if
there are major changes to the operating system (eg. new Service Pack,
new .NET) and are done by technicians.

However once in a while, key certificates, plugins and misc. software
are downloaded onto the user data partition.System logging is done on
the partition too, and the user is able to store any number of files
on it (and delete them). Much like a My Documents dir. My concern is
that the CF-card will degrade quickly, however it is hard to say how
long 100.000 write-cycles exactly is.

Are there any alternative storage types I can use for the user data ?

I looked into MicroDrives, but I didn't find facts about endurance or
lifetime, and of course they have moving parts, thus more vulnerable.
Then I looked at non-volatile RAM such as NVRAM, FRAM and
PRAM, but these are still under heavy development (max sizes of 16MB)
and the market is still heavily dominated by Flash memory.

Any suggestions or redirections would be helpful,

Thanks,

Janiek Buysrogge
Televic NV

Look to M-Systems flash strorage solutions -
they add to flash some additional technologies (TrueFFS) wich
improve a life of the storage.

Storage for Embedded Solutions
http://www.m-sys.com/site/en-US/Mark...beddedSystems/

TrueFFS technologies description
http://www.m-sys.com/site/en-US/Corp...Technology.htm

Regards,
Stas.

"Janiek Buysrogge" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello,
>
> This question is more hardware-related, but as this is a common issue
> I thought I'd post it here...
>
> We are developing a homecare application on XPe, and are currently
> using a SanDisk 4GB CF-card. It is partitioned into 2 parts, the first
> one (500MB) contains the EWF-protected operating system, the second
> is for user data storage (couple of GB's).
>
> System upgrades (on the EWF-protected partition) are done only if
> there are major changes to the operating system (eg. new Service Pack,
> new .NET) and are done by technicians.
>
> However once in a while, key certificates, plugins and misc. software
> are downloaded onto the user data partition.System logging is done on
> the partition too, and the user is able to store any number of files
> on it (and delete them). Much like a My Documents dir. My concern is
> that the CF-card will degrade quickly, however it is hard to say how
> long 100.000 write-cycles exactly is.
>
> Are there any alternative storage types I can use for the user data ?
>
> I looked into MicroDrives, but I didn't find facts about endurance or
> lifetime, and of course they have moving parts, thus more vulnerable.
> Then I looked at non-volatile RAM such as NVRAM, FRAM and
> PRAM, but these are still under heavy development (max sizes of 16MB)
> and the market is still heavily dominated by Flash memory.
>
> Any suggestions or redirections would be helpful,
>
> Thanks,
>
> Janiek Buysrogge
> Televic NV

Thanks, seems very useful, compact and affordable.

Janiek

On Wed, 30 Nov 2005 16:16:07 +0300, "Stas Pavlov \(eMVP\)"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Look to M-Systems flash strorage solutions -
>they add to flash some additional technologies (TrueFFS) wich
>improve a life of the storage.
>
>Storage for Embedded Solutions
>http://www.m-sys.com/site/en-US/Mark...beddedSystems/
>
>TrueFFS technologies description
>http://www.m-sys.com/site/en-US/Corp...Technology.htm
>
>Regards,
> Stas.
>
>"Janiek Buysrogge" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Hello,
>>
>> This question is more hardware-related, but as this is a common issue
>> I thought I'd post it here...
>>
>> We are developing a homecare application on XPe, and are currently
>> using a SanDisk 4GB CF-card. It is partitioned into 2 parts, the first
>> one (500MB) contains the EWF-protected operating system, the second
>> is for user data storage (couple of GB's).
>>
>> System upgrades (on the EWF-protected partition) are done only if
>> there are major changes to the operating system (eg. new Service Pack,
>> new .NET) and are done by technicians.
>>
>> However once in a while, key certificates, plugins and misc. software
>> are downloaded onto the user data partition.System logging is done on
>> the partition too, and the user is able to store any number of files
>> on it (and delete them). Much like a My Documents dir. My concern is
>> that the CF-card will degrade quickly, however it is hard to say how
>> long 100.000 write-cycles exactly is.
>>
>> Are there any alternative storage types I can use for the user data ?
>>
>> I looked into MicroDrives, but I didn't find facts about endurance or
>> lifetime, and of course they have moving parts, thus more vulnerable.
>> Then I looked at non-volatile RAM such as NVRAM, FRAM and
>> PRAM, but these are still under heavy development (max sizes of 16MB)
>> and the market is still heavily dominated by Flash memory.
>>
>> Any suggestions or redirections would be helpful,
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Janiek Buysrogge
>> Televic NV
>

Silicon Systems makes good products too. Their 40-pin (IDE
form-factor) flash unit gives better results than the uDoc on the
system I'm using. Plus it can work with any motherboard that has a
40-pin connector, you don'; need USB 2.0 boot ( is with the uDoc) or a
CF connector. http://www.siliconsystems.com/products/index.html

Interesting... I read on the boot issue on a forum somewhere.
If the info on the datasheet is correct, the performance is almost
doubled.

Thx for the info.

Janiek

On 30 Nov 2005 12:48:47 -0800, "(E-Mail Removed)"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Silicon Systems makes good products too. Their 40-pin (IDE
>form-factor) flash unit gives better results than the uDoc on the
>system I'm using. Plus it can work with any motherboard that has a
>40-pin connector, you don'; need USB 2.0 boot ( is with the uDoc) or a
>CF connector. http://www.siliconsystems.com/products/index.html