AG said "I've also personally experienced more memory chip failures in my
computers than hard-drive failures." - and as a former PC technician I can
confirm that generally from experience. Many an hard failure is due to s/w
rather than h/w - and ignoring drives trashed due to s/w, the number of h/w
failures is relatively small. But of course, the internals of drives are
sealed, enclosed units and not handled by users. Memory chips are sometimes
(and sometimes often) handled by users and are usually exposed to air (and
hence dust) inside the pc case. But even RAM is fairly reliable -
ROMs/EPROMs tend to be more so because they are handled much less, if ever,
by users. Also, the connections between RAM and their slots are usually less
secure than the cable connections of most hard drives (if the cable is
inserted properly and not stretched etc.) Computers are also less fault
tolerant with RAM - a few bad bits will maybe shut a PC down! A few bad
bits/bytes/KB/MB on the hard disk can often be tolerated by the computer
(depending where the bad areas are - and 'bad' sectors are sometimes mapped
out during a format so the computer, in theory, doesn't use said areas). A
significant percentage of drives have faults, but the computer is quite
tolerant so we get away with it. RAM needs to be continuously refreshed to
reatin information - so any bad bits can come to light very quickly - even
before the BIOS has had a chance to do the POST RAM test. Motherboards are
not always reliable either.
Allan
PS No trees were harmed in the sending of this message and a very large
number of electrons were asked their permission to be terribly
inconvenienced. (And threw a party for them afterwards for being really cool
about it).
Disrupting the unnatural balance that you, as a conscious human being and a
confused mass of energy, have created.
-Disturb the mind -
>From: AG Schnozz <agschnozz@xxxxxxxxx>
>Reply-To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
>To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: [OM] Re: Ornery mood
>Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2006 14:40:51 -0800 (PST)
>
>
>Chuck wrote regarding the Microdrive:
> > I didn't say it did. I just think you're taking unnecessary
> > risks with your valuable data when the alternative is so
> > cheap and reliable.
> > But a microdrive problem will likely be a mechanical failure.
>
>I keep reading about how much more unreliable Microdrives are,
>but I hardly found ANY instances of microdrive failure out on
>the internet. It's easy to assume that the microdrives are
>inherently more unreliable than CF cards because of the
>mechanical nature of them, but you just don't hear about them
>failing. Even in iPODs.
>
>However, probably a majority of those who have shot
>professionally has experienced CF card failures. Go figure.
>I've also personally experienced more memory chip failures in my
>computers than hard-drive failures. Since 1986 I've had two HD
>failures and at least five memory card failures.
>
>One thing I do to preserve my Microdrive is to keep it in my
>camera all the time. I don't remove it unless absolutely
>necessary. Pinching is considered to be the number one cause of
>microdrive failure.
>
>I looked carefully at the operational G-ratings on the
>Microdrive, and felt that the risk was acceptable. But as a
>matter of course, anything that I consider vital, I shoot with
>two cameras or on two cards or on film as a backup anyway. I've
>always shot weddings this way and anything else that isn't
>repeatable.
>
>I doubt I'll get another Microdrive because of the hideous
>speed. The thing is a tub when it comes to draining the buffer.
>
>AG
>
>
>
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