>
> We are building an embedded Linux system and the spec calls for ten year
> lifespan. These systems will be located at radio sites with various
> environments. We are considering using Sandisk Flashdrives but I was
> wondering if there are any industrial strength, long life laptop size
> IDE drives on the market.
>
We did the math on flash disks and were not happy with the
lifetime.
The MTBF for hard drives is pretty long. Picking a random
seagate drive,
http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/specs/st1133a.shtml
they say the MTBF is 150,000 hours. This is 6250 days or 17
years. So you should be ok. But anecdotal evidence says that
drives that run for a LONG time have their lubricant crystalize
(or soemthing like that), so they won't restart. So a PM full
power cycle every 6 months or so might not be a bad idea.
Comments?
-- cary
