We use flash memory on board satellites. I have seen some single bit
upsets resulting in having to reload, but very in frequent. Your USB
card is not however designed to run through the Van Allen Belt.

But then this is a short term backup in case the disk drive shoud be
very safe. I have data stored on my drive for 5 years with no
degradation. I however do cut permanent backups on other media.

Mark Horn wrote:
- quote -

I've never seen one discussed for flash. Magnetic media, yes.

But I'd never depend on any one media or media type if I absolutely,
positively didn't want to lose the data.

"Mark Horn" <mark[at]hornclan.com> wrote in message
news:slrnd4jmc1.1ih.mark[at]home.hornclan.com...
- quote -

On 2005-03-29, Dick Watson <littlegreengecko[at]mind-enufalready-spring.com> wrote:
- quote -

Do these things have a refresh requirement? E.g. if I backup
something to a flash drive and then put it in a safe, will the data
still be on there in a year, two years, etc? (Just an example,
in real life I'd probably use a CDROM for this sort of storage.)

Thanks to everyone who's responded.

My gut reaction is that the data in the FLASH device itself will last at
least as long as anything will have a USB port and know how to read a FAT
formatted USB File System device and well past when you'll have an
application that knows about the specific file formats.

Given the number of system FLASH "design ins" I'm involved in, I figured I
should know this, so I did a few minutes of googling. Beyond a cycle count
(seems like 100,000 minimum is a popular number) nobody seems to know this
in terms of calendar life. Or I didn't google long enough. It's always hard
to say.

100,000 cycles may seem like a lot (1 money backup per day for 273 years)
but consider something like the FAT/directory which may have many cycles for
each one you care about.

My first answer still seems like a good one over the near term.

"Mark Horn" <mark[at]hornclan.com> wrote in message
news:slrnd4jedk.vm.mark[at]home.hornclan.com...
- quote -

In microsoft.public.money, Cal Learner-- MVP wrote:

- quote -

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...on+floppy.disk

I see "greater than 10 years" quoted a lot.

In microsoft.public.money, Mark Horn wrote:

- quote -

If I find that, can you tell me how long data can last on a floppy?

On 2005-03-29, Cal Learner-- MVP <via_newsgroup[at]please.tnx> wrote:
- quote -

Does anyone have any references as to how long data can last on a
USB flash drive?

In microsoft.public.money,
<Use-Author-Supplied-Address-Header[at][127.1]> wrote:

- quote -

On a different vein, USB flash drives are handier and more reliable
for use for the "floppy" backup, and would avoid the problem.
Rotating between two USB drives would give even more reliability.
These items are frequently offered in sale ads.

Sure you are using M03? This sounds a lot like an M05 "issue".

<Use-Author-Supplied-Address-Header[at][127.1]> wrote in message
news:B0004861662[at]mail21.cisp.com...
- quote -

I'm using V2003. All of a sudden I can no longer backup to
floppy. Each time I try, I get the flag: "Not enough free space
on disk. Retry?" (It will backup if I erase the floppies first).
Has anyone experienced this? I have been using the program for 2
or 3 years and have never had a problem before. Appreciate
comments!

xx