Future FLASH directions

We use a Winbond 32 Mbit flash chip to run our Raspberry Pi RP2040 chips. It has enough storage for a couple of huge programs and a hefty FPGA bit file.

It costs 75 cents, same price as the CPU.

We still use USB hard drives as the monthly company backup. That's about 1.5 Tbytes. Memory sticks are still more expensive.

John Larkin Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center Lunatic Fringe Electronics

My experience with high capacity (2 TB) USB memory sticks is not good Could have been fake ebay ones. Samsung SDcards seem OK, never a problem.

This Raspberry Pi4 8GB I am posting this from and I use for writing code has a 128 MB Samsung micro-sdcard. And both Pi4 have a 4 TB Toshiba USB harddisc connected. raspberrypi: ~ # df Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on /dev/root 124334328 31537324 87698176 27% / devtmpfs 3879380 0 3879380 0% /dev tmpfs 4044244 14224 4030020 1% /dev/shm tmpfs 1617700 1320 1616380 1% /run tmpfs 5120 4 5116 1% /run/lock /dev/mmcblk0p1 258095 50413 207682 20% /boot tmpfs 808848 24 808824 1% /run/user/1000 /dev/sda2 3844420600 3218937876 430122060 89% /mnt/sda2

That 4GB has much of what I ever wrote, also backups of the SDcards of other Raspberries (now 5 , 4 on 24/7, PCs and laptop. Normal PCs are hardly ever on, for example when I want to read DVDs or write M-Discs or do do some satellite stuff (uses special PCI cards). The 'locate' function (it daily runs 'updatedb') on this Pi4 finds everything I ever did in seconds. Combine it with 'grep' on the command line: locate -i christmas | grep -i wav raspberrypi: ~ # locate -i christmas | grep -i wav /home/pi/.xpequ/christmas-phonelink-sidea.wav.equalizer /home/pi/.xpequ/christmas-phonelink-sidea1.wav.equalizer /home/pi/.xpequ/christmas-phonelink-sideb1.wav.equalizer /home/pi/.xpequ/christmas-phonelink-sideb2.wav.equalizer locate -i christmas 10.94s user 0.09s system 99% cpu 11.039 total grep -i wav 0.01s user 0.00s system 0% cpu 11.037 total

Find any code in seconds: locate -i xpsa | grep .c /mnt/sda2/backups/laptop_sda11/usr/local/httpd/htdocs/panteltje/xpsa/xpsa-0.6.4/xpsa.chundreds of entries

Also harddiscs are likely less sensitive to big EMP effects. The Toshiba 4 TB USB harddiscs I use now seem excellent One on the TV for movies and stuff

I do use USB hubs on the Pi4 Raspies, much more stuff connected to those There is more to it,...

Oops. 4 TB of course

Apparently, the "largest" NORs are in the 64MB range (512Mb). Large enough for a sizeable bit of code without resorting to dynamic application loading (which is somewhat wasteful and potentially less reliable given most embedded CPU capabilities)

SSDs seem to rely on fast interfaces to leverage the larger capacities oF NAND without significant penalties.

And, the "removable" market assumes devices have short lifespans (as their users likely discard and upgrade frequently).

So, for any *sizeable* application, dynamic loading seems to be the only practical solution -- let NOR find a role in just booting a system (SoC) and expect it to pull the app(s) in, as needed.

On Thu, 1 Jan 2026, Jan Panteltje wrote: "My experience with high capacity (2 TB) USB memory sticks is not good [. . .]

This Raspberry Pi4 8GB I am posting this from and I use for writing code has a 128 MB Samsung micro-sdcard. And both Pi4 have a 4 TB Toshiba USB harddisc connected. [. . .]

Also harddiscs are likely less sensitive to big EMP effects. The Toshiba 4 TB USB harddiscs I use now seem excellent"

Gelukkig nieuwjaar!

We had bad experiences with USB hard disks and with USB memory sticks. Why do you not have problems with USB hard disks?

Met vriendelijke groeten!

I dunno, I have 4 Toshiba 4 TB USB harddisks in use and one 1 TB Seagate, that must be almost 20 years old now.

I once had data corruption in an old PC harddisc when a power failure happened. Had to reformat it, do keep backups so.. no problem. And I once dropped a harddisc more than 20 years or so ago from the bookshelf, that one became a total loss.

Filesystems.. I have use Reiser FS exclusively over the years.. now on this Raspberry Pi4 8 TB I am posting this from ext4. /dev/sda2 3844420600 3219046928 430013008 89% /mnt/sda2 /dev/sda2 on /mnt/sda2 type ext4 (rw,relatime) Also on 24/7

What is your problem? Bad connectors? What make / model are you using? The 4 TB are connect to my Raspberry Pi together with other USB stuff (like RTL_SDR sticks and USB to serial adaptors, USB audio adaptor) via Sitecom 8 port USB hubs. All is on an UPS.

I had 2 years 'uptime' on the security recording USB 4 TB a while back. The Toshibas spin down after a short time if no data transfer to those, so that may help longlivity and power use perhaps. The security one never spins down, is always recording.

Jan Panteltje schreef: |---------------------------------------------------------| |"The security one never spins down, is always recording."| |---------------------------------------------------------|

Impressive!

Jan Panteltje schreef: |----------------------------------------------------------------------| |"[. . .] | | | |[. . .] do keep backups so.. no problem. | |[. . .] | | | |[. . .]" | |----------------------------------------------------------------------|

Dank u wel.

I try external USB media which failed for backups of many gigabytes each.

|-----------------------------------------------------------------------| |"What is your problem? Bad connectors? What make / model are you using?| |[. . .] | | | |[. . .] | |The Toshibas spin down after a short time if no data transfer to | |those, so that may help longlivity [. . .]" | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------|

We tried these failed external USB media with laptop/notebook computers. Old laptops' computers' USB ports tend to stop working. Such a problem might lead to not enough electricity being provided by a USB port to a peripheral. Whatever the reasons, USB flash sticks from various manufacturers and of various sizes (8GB and much bigger) have a problem or a different problem: e.g. an 8GB stick completely stopped working whereas a different problem which I experience is FAT tables becoming corrupted so files are still there but unhelpfully renamed. I back up many versions of a file, so on such a USB thumb drive it is not easy to determine which version is which version.

Each of these USB flash drive pens experienced no more than a few hundred power cycles so way under a USB specification for longevity.

As for failed external USB hard disks . . .

We do not have many experiences with external USB hard disks. A then workmate who is not a computer scientist used to then use a misconfigured CentOS GNU/Linux installation on a laptop computer. He is not at all at fault that it used to be misconfigured - such faults are entirely faults of the inept administrator who is called Paulo Alexandre Cunha Gomes who owns NetStream - Consultadoria e Gestão de Redes Informáticas Lda, Rua da Cidade de Fez Lt. 96, Nr. 25 Esq.,

This laptop computer is for simulations which almost fill up its internal hard disk in a matter of hours. This external hard disk failed almost the 1st time that this then workmate attempted to back up onto this external hard disk. This failure upset him. He incorrectly blamed himself. I told him that he is not at fault over this failure.

Years later I myself used an external USB hard disk for the 1st time. I paid 50 Euro for it (not 49.99 Euro - exactly 50 Euro). I used it with a notebook computer or a laptop computer running Microsoft Windows. This external drive came with an NTFS. A few days later files on it became corrupted. In 2018 its filesystem used to be bad. Like with USB flash drives' corrupted FAT filesystems, maybe an operating system or a computer's provision of USB power is at fault.

On Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2016 18:16:08 +0100 (CET) I wrote this unanswered email to the company which sold me my failed USB external hard disk: ######################################################################## #"[. . .] # # # #I bought from you an external hard disk. Yesterday it has been # #connected to a computer that it had not been connected to # #before. Unfortunately the NTFS on it became corrupt yesterday. # # # #I ran ChkDsk as an administrator on Windows XP. ChkDsk of Windows XP # #reported that e.g. more than 10 files are illegible and ChkDsk did not# #repair this filesystem. # # # #I also attempted to access this disk on Windows 7 as an ordinary user # #(I do not have access to an administrator account on Windows 7). # # # #When will you be able to repair this? # # # #[. . .]" # ########################################################################

In 2018 during many days of a single run of ChkDsk, ChkDsk predicted that it would take years to complete that run on that hard disk in the corrupted state it used to suffer then.

(I used to use many distributions of GNU/Linux and many versions of Microsoft Windows and one version of Apple MacOS with USB thumb drives. An Apple did not destroy them.

I use only Microsoft Windows with external USB hard disks. An ex-workmate used CentOS with an external USB hard disk when it failed.)

As for external hard disks which did not fail . . .

I have a WD Elements SE "one terabyte" USB "Portable hard drive" and another WD Elements hard drive. They are not from the aforementioned shop. They are not from NetStream - Consultadoria e Gestão de Redes Informáticas Lda. I cautiously do not power them much because I do not want repetitions of our external-hard-disk misadventures. I do not yet detect a problem with these WD Elements drives.

(S.

These are the 4 TB harddisks I use now:

I do not run MS windows at all here. Some satellite and TV receiver boxes I have use small USB sticks that have that MS OS. My main backup USB sticks use Reiserfs.

When I bought my laptop it came with some MS windows version just put Ubuntu on it and everything worked. Then had Slackware on it for many years (is also on my real PCs) and put a recent Ubuntu on my laptop when Slackware gave an install problem (was probably my fault). Needed to upgrade OS anyways.. Mainly for the browser..

Old saying: If it works do not fix it If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It

These are the USB hubs I use: Sitecom USB 3.0 Hub 7 port usb-hub No longer available fropm Alternate, come with external power adaptor. no problem powering my 4 TB disks from my Raspberries. The Seagate 1 TB USB disc has its own power supply.

Jan Panteltje schreef: |------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"I remember I once had a problem with my Seagate 1 TB harddisc on Linux,| |emailed Seagate 'We do not support Linux' was their answer! | |[. . .]" | |------------------------------------------------------------------------|

I am sorry to hear so.

Jan Panteltje schreef: |-----------------------------------------------------------------------| |"I do not run MS windows at all here. | |[. . .] | | | |[. . .]" | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------|

Congratulations. You are sensible.

I became coerced to use Microsoft Windows to transfer files to computers belonging to different persons. E.g. printing shops.

Jan Panteltje schreef: |-----------------------------------------------------------------------| |"These are the 4 TB harddisks I use now: | |[. . .] | |[. . .] reliable seller." | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------|

Thanks for details. I searched on that website for the latest good printer model that I bought but it did not show it to me. This printer is a Canon PIXMA GM4050 MegaTank printer. It is still on its 1st bottle of ink. It printed 5693 pages. Good value for money. Unlike Epson. Cf.

I bought my Canon printer on 23rd March 2025.

This Canon model supports Apple iOS and Google Android, but alas no other Linux distribution. I should contact Canon.

(S.

Jan Panteltje schreef: |--------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"I have an EPSON_Stylus_Photo_R200 color printer, used it to print on CDs.| |[. . .] | |Worked very well, | |[. . .]" | |--------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Really? I would had suspected that ink destroys a C.D. but I have glanced at

You own good resources and you are insightful. I ask questions in alt.comp.periphs.cdr and comp.publish.cdrom.hardware since November . . . Subject: DVDs are worse than CDs and Subject: dvdisaster or QuickPar or etc.: do you use them to secure discs? so far with another thread planned.

Refutations or confirmations or insights or other possible contributions from you are welcome. Dank u wel!

|--------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"There are countries that have stopped delivering paper to their people: | |[webpage about Denmark . . .]" | |--------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Friends live in Denmark. A withdrawal of a postal service affected us before I heard that a journalist reported this problem. This withdrawal shall probably be very bad to persons.

I had not known that a similar withdrawal happened in another country or other countries. What country is it or what countries are they?

(S.

Do not print on the signal side but on the white colored side of the discs :-)

What do you man by 'secure disc'? I do a verify on the CD, DVD, Bluray or M-DISC after burning it, binary compare with the original From:

I have over a thousand burned discs here, thousand in this box:

I dunno.

Jan Panteltje schreef: |--------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"Do not print on the signal side but on the white colored side of the discs :-)"| |--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

:)

|---------------------------------------------------------------------------| |">>You own good resources and you are insightful. I ask questions in | |>>alt.comp.periphs.cdr and comp.publish.cdrom.hardware since November | |>>. . . | |>>Subject: DVDs are worse than CDs | |>>and | |>>Subject: dvdisaster or QuickPar or etc.: do you use them to secure discs?| |>>so far with another thread planned. | | | |What do you man by 'secure disc'? | |[. . .]" | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------|

E.g. "In addition you should be looking to add parity/recovery data to your CD-R/DVD-R backup files, which serves two purposes: (a) allows you to verify that the files are still readable and intact (b) allows you to recover damaged files if you have enough recovery data. It allows you to recover from scratches that the underlying ECC was unable to correct for."

E.g. "I'd like to use QuickPar, or par2cmdline, to protect archives stored on CD-R and DVD-R media."

E.g. "dvdisaster complements optical media [. . .] with error correction data in a way that they are fully recoverable even after some read errors have developed. This enables you to rescue the complete data to a new medium."

|---------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"I have over a thousand burned discs here, thousand in this box: | |

Impressive again! Are DVDs less durable?

Many of the white things which you show in this picture seem to be too thin to be jewel cases. I read a suspicion in a different newsgroup that sleeves might be OK for C.D.s but dangerous for D.V.D.s . . . Richard Hassinger warns in Message-ID: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com in Subject: Re: Media Storage after you burn? in alt.video.dvdr since Date: Mon, 02 Aug 2004 23:29:01 -0500 . . . ######################################################################## #"My opinion is that the sleeves are not so good. Even without removing# #them for a long time, they tend to jostle around and get scuffed up. I# #have hundreds of CDs from the past five years and when I pull them out# #of the sleeves I can see that they have gotten scuffed up some. # #Doesn't make a big difference for the CDs, but it might be a big deal # #for the DVDs. # # # #Like the other person said, the holders for the DVDs can put a lot of # #pressure on the disc. I have had some trouble getting DVDs out of some# #of those locking mechanisms and had to bend the disc quite a bit while# #prying it loose. I have seen at least ten different mechanisms, most # #of them seem to force me to be rough with the disc. # # # #Worse, if one of the prongs breaks off, the disc can slip off the # #mechanism and shake around inside the box, with the rest of the # #plastic parts scratching up the disc." # ########################################################################

You do not seem to suffer such a problem.

Blurays and M-Discs, DVDs CDs It is all in that box and in a similar small one Each disc has a number, staring wwith 1 in this case up to including 1000, I keep a text file dvd_list.txt tha tsays what it is and how it was burned, what make disc ist was

Example, some movies I recorded from satellite, disc number first:

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3402750000 Feb 16 18:29 die_unfassbaren_now_you_see_me_2013__german.ts amovie

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2874900000 Feb 25 19:41 desperado_1995__german.ts amovie

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2531400000 Mar 24 10:48 get_the_gringo__german.ts amovie

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3251400000 May 6 08:40 passengers_german.ts amovie

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 310400000 May 18 08:44 the_boat.ts amovie

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2537800000 May 26 20:48 romancing_the_stone_1984.ts amovie

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3841100000 May 30 22:45 vaiana_2016.ts amovie

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3136350000 Jul 8 10:12 war_dogs_2016_german.ts amovie

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 19095 May 7 23:33 xinutop_manual.txt

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4385000000 Jul 1 18:01 freibeuter_des_todes_german.ts amovie

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 58 Jul 11 10:40 xinutop-nav-x86-2.4.img.md5

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 682624000 Jul 11 10:44 xinutop-nav-x86-2.4.img

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4294705152 Sep 8 01:51 stones_havana_NPO_3-20190907213907-.mts amovie

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 627385344 Sep 8 02:28 stones_havana_NPO_3-20190907213907-.mts1 amovie

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3949971456 Sep 8 05:59 stones_havana_NPO_3-20190907235958-.mts amovie

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1993500000 Sep 24 16:53 the_great_wall_2016.ts amovie

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2354400000 Oct 3 17:05 last_man_standing_1996.ts amovie

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3172370000 Oct 8 12:39 a_cure_for_wellness_2016__german.ts amovie

Indeed, never a problem and I am not even that careful!