USB Flash Drive Tester
Last night, I, and my former colleagues on the TimeWarner Point 'n' Click show, did our annual "reunion" session with the CNY PC Users' Group. These meetings are always a lot of fun, and for me at least, always a learning experience.
This one was predictably rewarding.
Each meeting, group members have an option to buy a disk loaded with software and features - often shareware, sometimes demo-ware. But it has always been carefully researched, so users know what they're getting!
This time, two featured items caught my eye: first, "Flash Drive Tester," and second, "Win PenPack."
I wasn't aware of it, but flash drives (like that little keychain thumbdrive you use to transport files between work and home) can go bad. For starters, given that they are rapidly mass produced (I remember when having one was a big deal - I now have so many I don't know where they all are), they may arrive with "bad bits." This isn't initially a problem, but the more you fill up the drive, and the more often you use it, it could eventually present data loss problems. In any event, even if the drive is perfect when you get it, over time, and much use, it will wear out!
Says Leo Notenboom at "Ask-Leocom:"
"The "problem" is that memory can be flashed only so many times. I'm finding numbers between 10,000 and 100,000 times - though as with anything, I'm sure that is increasing over time as well. Regardless, there is a limit. When that limit is approached, some portion of the memory may not properly remember what was written to it, resulting in corruption. It may only take a single bit of information to be wrong, or to "wear out", for the entire contents of a flash memory chip to be lost.
"Scary, huh?
"Some flash memory chips, perhaps even most, now also include circuitry to avoid "bad bits". Meaning that if portion of the flash memory finally wears out and goes bad, the chip itself can compensate and look like everything is fine. But that only lasts so long ... it doesn't prevent failure, it only postpones it."
Leo warns us that flash drives are really for quick and easy transport of data, not for long-term storage of or repeatedly accessing critical data.
But just in case, there is an application (free) that you can download to test your flash drives for integrity. Flash Drive Tester as VConsole, its makers, tell us: "allows testing of any removable media including SD, MMC, CF, USB flash pen drives for bad or unstable sectors. Especially useful for testing for fake sizes often seen on low quality USB pen drives."
So before you load that important data file - and definitely before you erase the original! - check your USB flash drive for any potential problems. It's easy. And its free.
This one was predictably rewarding.
Each meeting, group members have an option to buy a disk loaded with software and features - often shareware, sometimes demo-ware. But it has always been carefully researched, so users know what they're getting!
This time, two featured items caught my eye: first, "Flash Drive Tester," and second, "Win PenPack."
I wasn't aware of it, but flash drives (like that little keychain thumbdrive you use to transport files between work and home) can go bad. For starters, given that they are rapidly mass produced (I remember when having one was a big deal - I now have so many I don't know where they all are), they may arrive with "bad bits." This isn't initially a problem, but the more you fill up the drive, and the more often you use it, it could eventually present data loss problems. In any event, even if the drive is perfect when you get it, over time, and much use, it will wear out!
Says Leo Notenboom at "Ask-Leocom:"
"The "problem" is that memory can be flashed only so many times. I'm finding numbers between 10,000 and 100,000 times - though as with anything, I'm sure that is increasing over time as well. Regardless, there is a limit. When that limit is approached, some portion of the memory may not properly remember what was written to it, resulting in corruption. It may only take a single bit of information to be wrong, or to "wear out", for the entire contents of a flash memory chip to be lost.
"Scary, huh?
"Some flash memory chips, perhaps even most, now also include circuitry to avoid "bad bits". Meaning that if portion of the flash memory finally wears out and goes bad, the chip itself can compensate and look like everything is fine. But that only lasts so long ... it doesn't prevent failure, it only postpones it."
Leo warns us that flash drives are really for quick and easy transport of data, not for long-term storage of or repeatedly accessing critical data.
But just in case, there is an application (free) that you can download to test your flash drives for integrity. Flash Drive Tester as VConsole, its makers, tell us: "allows testing of any removable media including SD, MMC, CF, USB flash pen drives for bad or unstable sectors. Especially useful for testing for fake sizes often seen on low quality USB pen drives."
So before you load that important data file - and definitely before you erase the original! - check your USB flash drive for any potential problems. It's easy. And its free.
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