life of ipod hdd vs flash vs external hdd?

pk para · 05-06-2008, 03:41 PM

How do all of these compete under the same the same levels of stress?

1. Ipod video with the usual 30gb hdd (or similar HDD)
2. compact flash (32 gb i'm thinking)
3. and just a regular external hdd, whatever capacity :D

I'm mainly wondering how long each one would live as compared to the others :/
but thanks to any who respond, in advance :]

P.S.-- a BIOS that recognizes an ipod at boot will recognize an ipod modded to use flash, right?

pk para · 05-08-2008, 08:54 PM

anyone?

on one, the specifications say about 2 years of it being on till its not garenteed, but im not sure what kind of data transfer // read/write that implies...

and on two... in EEE PC's it lasts anywhere from 1-24 yrs (based on specifications) for light pc use.... and in general, regular compact flash is from 100k- 1000k read/writes...

and if i were to run an OS, what if i got it to launch into the ram and then at shutdown save all changes... as long as i didnt do anything extensive (and used something like linux) it would really help lengthen the life...

but really, i hardly know what im talking about and would appreciate some help from someone who does :D

monkeymonkey · 05-12-2008, 01:26 PM

HDD ipods - take a guess, round it up to the nearest year, divide by two, add three times the square root of the cost in pence, and there you go!

Flash-based ipods - as above but use a calculator.

but seriously, you can get a good few years (5+) out of either, depends on your lucky not to get a faulty one, and how much you use it, and dont drop it!

pk para · 05-12-2008, 04:14 PM

lol, thanks
so i take it that not many people are going to be able to give a good answer with such a vague question

Quote:

but seriously, you can get a good few years (5+) out of either, depends on your lucky not to get a faulty one, and how much you use it, and dont drop it!

what if you plan on using it to boot from...? :/

monkeymonkey · 05-13-2008, 07:40 AM

why do you want to boot from the ipod?
Not sure if this is possible as an ipod is not just a storage disk - it has its own little cpu, ram, motherboard etc.
Try it if you like though but i advise waiting for any warranties to run out first!

pk para · 05-13-2008, 03:35 PM

Quote:

why do you want to boot from the ipod?

long story.... but basically, I was originaly going to buy an external hard drive when i learned that it could be done off an ipod (even though it wasn't suggested), which I thought was really cool that it could be done off my ipod and it would be one thing less to carry around and lose... then I found out you could use compact flash in an ipod and it would save you battery life, it would never lag searching for a song, ect.

That's why I keep on asking around how long the flash memory would last as compared to the original hdd and just an external one (so I could see that if i went for it if it would just be a complete waste of money or not).

Quote:

Not sure if this is possible as an ipod is not just a storage disk - it has its own little cpu, ram, motherboard etc.
Try it if you like though but i advise waiting for any warranties to run out first!

and im sure you can (putting it in disk mode plus w/e else)... im pretty sure you can also partition the flash. But the warrenty is gone on my 30gb ipod video, i beleive, so yah :]

05-06-2008, 03:41 PM	#1 (permalink)
pk para Registered User Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 4 OS: xp (2002) sp2	life of ipod hdd vs flash vs external hdd? How do all of these compete under the same the same levels of stress? 1. Ipod video with the usual 30gb hdd (or similar HDD) 2. compact flash (32 gb i'm thinking) 3. and just a regular external hdd, whatever capacity :D I'm mainly wondering how long each one would live as compared to the others :/ but thanks to any who respond, in advance :] P.S.-- a BIOS that recognizes an ipod at boot will recognize an ipod modded to use flash, right?

05-08-2008, 08:54 PM	#2 (permalink)
pk para Registered User Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 4 OS: xp (2002) sp2	Re: life of ipod hdd vs flash vs external hdd? anyone? on one, the specifications say about 2 years of it being on till its not garenteed, but im not sure what kind of data transfer // read/write that implies... and on two... in EEE PC's it lasts anywhere from 1-24 yrs (based on specifications) for light pc use.... and in general, regular compact flash is from 100k- 1000k read/writes... and if i were to run an OS, what if i got it to launch into the ram and then at shutdown save all changes... as long as i didnt do anything extensive (and used something like linux) it would really help lengthen the life... but really, i hardly know what im talking about and would appreciate some help from someone who does :D

05-12-2008, 01:26 PM	#3 (permalink)
monkeymonkey Registered User Join Date: May 2008 Location: here Posts: 57 OS: xp / ubuntu	Re: life of ipod hdd vs flash vs external hdd? HDD ipods - take a guess, round it up to the nearest year, divide by two, add three times the square root of the cost in pence, and there you go! Flash-based ipods - as above but use a calculator. but seriously, you can get a good few years (5+) out of either, depends on your lucky not to get a faulty one, and how much you use it, and dont drop it!

05-13-2008, 07:40 AM	#5 (permalink)
monkeymonkey Registered User Join Date: May 2008 Location: here Posts: 57 OS: xp / ubuntu	Re: life of ipod hdd vs flash vs external hdd? why do you want to boot from the ipod? Not sure if this is possible as an ipod is not just a storage disk - it has its own little cpu, ram, motherboard etc. Try it if you like though but i advise waiting for any warranties to run out first!