Any way to detect bad compact flash?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mark K Vallevand
  • Start date Start date
M

Mark K Vallevand

We occationally have compact flash devices that just go bad. The same image
on other devices is OK, but one device is bad. We've got all the right
things in place: EWF, etc, so we aren't burning them up.

We are currently using STI devices, but have evaluated SanDisk and
Dane-Elec. Are there any quality issues with any of these device?

The first time an image is booted on a compact flash, the stateless EWF
isn't enabled, but an immediate reboot is always done, and its enabled on
the subsequent boot. Could this behavior burn out the compact flash if done
often?

Should we start doing full formats of the compact flash partitions instead
of quick?

Should we start running file system checks on the compact flash partitions?
 
Mark,

Slobodan would be the guy to answer this question, but here's by 2 cents....

We look for flash devices with features like wear leveling, industrial
ratings, high speed, etc... so maybe M-Systems would be a better bet than
STI. Again my 2 cents worth.

HTH,
--
Brad Combs
Imago Technologies, LLC

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Have an opinion on the effectiveness of Microsoft Embedded newsgroups? Tell
Microsoft!
https://www.windowsembeddedeval.com/community/newsgroups
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Hi Brad,

You are looking for something like:
http://www.m-systems.com/content/Products/Product.asp?pid=29

Mark,
If you are doing FBA directly on CF then first boot like you mentioned is
normal thing to expect.

Can this damage your CF?
Well this depend on max allowed write/erase cycles of each block on your CF
declared in datasheet from manufacturer (If they have mentioned it).

For detecting bad CF. You can try to fill CF with one big file, and then to
verify it binary against the file on HDD if it is written correctly then CF
should be ok.
Also format should mark damaged blocks.

I mention it only for development phase testing not for production.

Regards,
Slobodan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Have an opinion on the effectiveness of Microsoft Embedded newsgroups? Tell
Microsoft!
https://www.windowsembeddedeval.com/community/newsgroups
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Yes, the CF behavior with stateless EWF is expected, but sometimes I worry
that using the same CF again and again in the labs will cause burn out.

The only CF device we can use are true CompactFlash type I and II cards. Do
any venders have wear-leveling in CF in that form factor?
 
Back
Top