The Plague

[Ryuu]

It's me again, ive just been lurking the nets and found this ==> http://www.bixnet.com/60poushadrwi.html
It lets u insert sd cards and transfer data so it could serve as backup or a data bank for the pandora B)

The Pandora like any other device which relies on flash memory is plagued by the write/erase cycle limit ranging from 10,000 cycle limit to 100,000 cycles (sd cards) to some high endurance drives with 1,500,000 cycle limit.

I read some ppl posting about a BitTorrent engine on pandora and using pandora for regular use ( surfing, downloading stuff , playing with it then deleting , etc.. ) given the cycle limit sd cards pose how long will they last? and would i need to get an external Hard drive? I was planing on getting a Western digital 320gb passport or the 500gb passport when it comes out ==> http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=517
but how much battery consumption will this use? an external hd battery powered hd is better for the pandoras battery but they cost about the same as the 320gb passport and they have less than half the storage. What do you think ? :huh:

I have read from ppl on other forums who have used flash memory as a replacement for their laptops or pc's standard hd's and They have experienced first hand the flash memory plague. ive seen the words " my ssd drive died " and " my sd card dont work anymore" too many times.

 

[P-J]

Why wouldn't you just backup to a PC? It's not like you're going to backup on the go, and even if you did, your SD card would be dead so you can't use the Pandora anyway.

Interesting idea, I just can't see any real use for it.

 

[Ryuu]

Why wouldn't you just backup to a PC? It's not like you're going to backup on the go, and even if you did, your SD card would be dead so you can't use the Pandora anyway.

Interesting idea, I just can't see any real use for it.

the battery powered hd can be used as a regular hd so scruff the sd card 16gb (or 32gb for u wealthy ppl) limit u can just us the hd with the usb connection the pandora has and it wont drain the pandora battery as it has one of its own.

 

[Megamixman]

SD cards also make sure that writes are evenly disbursed throughout the card. You're not going to have a problem with writes for the most part. Most of those SD cards dying is probably more likely due to the fact that Flash memory is less capable of handling high voltages. Static from your hand is often enough to fry an SD card.

 

[Ryuu]

SD cards also make sure that writes are evenly disbursed throughout the card. You're not going to have a problem with writes for the most part. Most of those SD cards dying is probably more likely due to the fact that Flash memory is less capable of handling high voltages. Static from your hand is often enough to fry an SD card.

tanks a bunch dude thats the only thing which worried me

 

[kloplop321]

Yeah it is a find, but a pricey and unnecessary one

 

[ashdjones]

If you think this is bad, try using a handheld with volatile memory storage (when the battery dies you lose all your data). For my 200lx, some people shared code (macros tied in to the the schedule app) to make backups during the night onto memory card (because the machine is always on, and like the Pandora runs in low power mode when suspended).

I comparison think that NAND is much more secure than volatile, but if you're worried maybe you could script linux to do something similar?

 

[tazg]

This thing is obviously designed for photographers who spend a LOT of time away from computers or power outlets... it's not worth it if you already have a mobile computer, you can just connect a regular usb drive or enclosure to it and copy files on your own. It doesn't need to be battery powered - really, how often would you be doing this?

 

[Ryuu]

This thing is obviously designed for photographers who spend a LOT of time away from computers or power outlets... it's not worth it if you already have a mobile computer, you can just connect a regular usb drive or enclosure to it and copy files on your own. It doesn't need to be battery powered - really, how often would you be doing this?

i was planning on getting the WD Passport 320gb or 500gb (which doesnt have a battery its usb powered = drain on pandora batts) but due to other posts stating that usb powered external hd's drain the battery of the pandora thus looking for a battery powered hd will solve that problem.. . i can get the 320 gb usb powered passport for cheaper than the 160gb battery powered hd but wont that drain pandora battery life? the whole point of an external hd for me is for extensive use with the pandora as i will be on the train for long hours at times or on the bus and i dont want the extensive use to use up my sd cards limited write/erase cycles.

And u get more storage for the money 2 32gb sd's cost more than a 320gb usb2.0 wd passport