5 Storage Cards Meet the Sadistic Reviewers

[Jonathon Watkins]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3939333.stm' target='_blank'>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3939333.stm</a><br /><br /></div>Ever hear of Digital Camera Shopper magazine? Well it looks like they were bored one wet rainy afternoon and had a few storage cards to play with. Instead of doing the <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/articles.php?action=expand,30484:dont_paginate,1">standard tests</a> on the CompactFlash, Secure Digital, xD, Memory Stick and Smartmedia cards, they decided to destroy them in interesting ways:. <br /><br /><i>"They were dipped into cola, put through a washing machine, dunked in coffee, trampled by a skateboard, run over by a child's toy car and given to a six-year-old boy to destroy. Perhaps surprisingly, all the cards survived these six tests. Most of them did fail to get through two additional tests - being smashed by a sledgehammer and being nailed to a tree. Even then, data experts Ontrack Data Recovery were able to retrieve photos from the xD and Smartmedia cards."</i><br /><br />So now you know what storage card type to get if you plan to nail your storage card to a tree and smash it to smithereens. :lol: On a more serious point, it is good to see that all of the cards were very study and resilient, surviving the 'normal' abuse given to them. Now if only Pocket PCs <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=25728&">were that resilient</a>…… :wink:

[dma1965]

Just recently our company CEO's son had a presentation for a final exam for a college course, which he had saved on a floppy, and, of course, the floppy died, rendering his presentation unpresentable. I demoed a scenario to him, where I took a flash card, stored some files on it, then ran a magnet over it. All was well. The same file on a floppy did not fare so well. He is now convinced that flash memory is now the way to go, and carries a USB flash drive everywhere. Long live flash memory! 0X

[bjornkeizers]

... Wow, I never know they could survive that. I'm always very careful with my cards, especially those tiny SD's.

Hey, do you guys remember that story about the photographer who was shooting pictures at the WTC on 9/11? His cam was totally destroyed, but the microdrive still worked, even though it was obviously crushed/burned.

[jonathanchoo]

Flash memory are extremely durable. The only time these kinds of memory ever fail me is when my iPAQ decides to corrupt the files (these has stopped ever since I applied the ROM update) and my T3 chewed my 256Mb Sandisk (which I replaced and ever since the ROM update never happened again).

I have read PC magazines that does more extreme tests on flash memory (not card but USB keys) such as microwaving, freezing, run over by car, dropped from 10 floor buildings. Actually smashing small memory cards are quite difficult. I could throw it down every day and it would still work. This is due that they are very light as well as contain no moving parts unlike the Microdrive - which is one reason why I don't fancy iPods or other harddrive based mp3 players.

Putting a magnet won't totally destroy the data on any harddrive based storage. If you have the money it is most likely able to be recovered.

[Felix Torres]

A year ago I dropped a CF card outside a fast food restaurant. :oops:
By the time I realized I'd lost it and figured out where it might be it was over an hour.
I found it near the entrance to the restaurant which was, unfortunately, along the exit path of the drive-through window.
The card had clear tire treadmarks on it.
It still worked, though.
For that matter, it is still working as of today. 8)
I count myself lucky, though.
And I wouldn't expect an SD card or thumbdrive to survive such abuse.
Nowadays I carry my data cards in a business-card sized aluminum case intead of my wallet. So far, no accidents...

[scargill]

I have read PC magazines that does more extreme tests on flash memory (not card but USB keys) such as microwaving, freezing, run over by car, dropped from 10 floor buildings.

I still have a magazine with this in; so if anyone would like to see then give me a shout, its quite amazing what the usb keys went through and when it comes down to it its virtually the same technology anyway.
One of the reasons I chose my new digital camera is because it took cf cards and I know them to be more resiliant and more difficult to loose than sd.

[surur]

I'm actually much more interested in really stress testing cards regarding the limited rewrites available, as apposed to actual physical abuse.

It would have been much more interesting to know which manufacturers cards are more prone to bad sectors and early failure, and really how hard we can push them as hard drive replacements, as regards to the supposed theoretical 10 000 write cycles.

This test is all well and good, but reminds me more of the twinkie stress tests (http://www.twinkiesproject.com/)than anything else, and is just about as useful.

Surur

[ctmagnus]

Nowadays I carry my data cards in a business-card sized aluminum case

Do you have a model #/manufacturer of the case? I've been looking for something similar but the closest I can find so far is the Vaja SD Keeper X4 (http://www1.vajacases.com/images/accessories/sd-ms-media_en.html), which is rather pricey.

[Jon Westfall]

Nowadays I carry my data cards in a business-card sized aluminum case

Do you have a model #/manufacturer of the case? I've been looking for something similar but the closest I can find so far is the Vaja SD Keeper X4 (http://www1.vajacases.com/images/accessories/sd-ms-media_en.html), which is rather pricey.

Yea, I'm been searching for a good SD keeper for awhile now... link link link ;)

[foldedspace]

http://www.cyberguys.com/templates/SearchProducts.asp?search=1mo&child=&sdesc=Mobile+and+PDA+Products&curpage=4&ureq=y


They have several for less than 5 dollars.

[Tierran]

My CF cards have all been through the wash a few times...never damaged them a bit :)

[maximus]

No test on 'accidental' 220V of electricity directly on cards' pins ? :mrgreen:

[Felix Torres]

http://www.cyberguys.com/templates/SearchProducts.asp?search=1mo&child=&sdesc=Mobile+and+PDA+Products&curpage=4&ureq=y


They have several for less than 5 dollars.

And they're very light.
I have three; one holds three SD cards, one holds dual CF or Smartmedia.
The third is thicker and heavily padded in rubber; its intended for 4 SD cards and a PC card adapter, but I use the PC Card cavity to hold a hard-drive card.
Total cost $10.
They have variations for most types of flashcards.
The cyberguys are a good source for techie toys; their printed catalogs are lots of fun to browse. 8)

[ctmagnus]

The third is thicker and heavily padded in rubber; its intended for 4 SD cards and a PC card adapter

Is that the one that states here (http://www.cyberguys.com/templates/searchdetail.asp?T1=215+0617) that it holds two SD cards and one PC card ?

The cyberguys are a good source for techie toys; their printed catalogs are lots of fun to browse. 8)

You're telling me. Time to order from them again, just so I can get another catalogue!

[JimPAQ]

I have one 512 MB SD card that I store all my MP3s for my iPAQ. I was horrified a few weeks back when I found out I had put it through the washer and dryer. I was surprised that it worked great.

--Jim

[Felix Torres]

Is that the one that states that it holds two SD cards and one PC card ?



That's the one.
Odd, huh? Since the picture clearly shows room for four...
It has a very nice solid latch, too.
I feel more comfortable putting the drive card in there than the carry case it came with.

[rocky_raher]

Listerine makes a product called "PocketPaks oral care strips." They come in little green plastic cases, each of which hold 24 little stripts of solidified Listerine. (Many drug stores have house brand versions, as well.) An SD card wouldn't fit through the same slot as the Listerine stripts, but the cases are made of two pieces of plastic that snap apart. They are just the right size to hold 2 SD cards. If you're feeling James Bondish, you can hide one SD card behind some Listerine strips and carry your data covertly!

[maximus]

Listerine makes a product called "PocketPaks oral care strips." They come in little green plastic cases, each of which hold 24 little stripts of solidified Listerine. (Many drug stores have house brand versions, as well.) An SD card wouldn't fit through the same slot as the Listerine stripts, but the cases are made of two pieces of plastic that snap apart. They are just the right size to hold 2 SD cards.

Very creative :way to go:

I happened to always have a pocketpak in my pocket. You are right. It perfectly hold 2 SD cards. The problem is that you have to snap open the cover to get the SD card out ... I dont think this cheap plastic can withstand too many snap-open and close.

If you're feeling James Bondish, you can hide one SD card behind some Listerine strips and carry your data covertly!

And have a coolmint SD card to oral-care your PPC's SD slot ? :p

[rocky_raher]

And have a coolmint SD card to oral-care your PPC's SD slot ? :p

Because Listerine kills germs on contact, this could be considered an anti-virus measure!

[Jonathon Watkins]

And have a coolmint SD card to oral-care your PPC's SD slot ? :p

Because Listerine kills germs on contact, this could be considered an anti-virus measure!

:twak: Cute. :lol: