I assume by "thumbdrive" you mean one of the USB memory sticks which are usually built using FLASH memory devices. You can google the FLASH memory write limit which should answer your question. Bruce > Date: Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:10:26 -0500 > From: "C.T. Paterson" <i [ dot ] adore [ dot ] my [ dot ] 64 [ at ] gmail [ dot ] com> > Subject: [OCLUG-Tech] Running Linux 24/7 on Thumb Drive - Wear? > To: OCLUG Linux <linux [ at ] lists [ dot ] oclug [ dot ] on [ dot ] ca> > Message-ID: > <c1c598a40911271310i491a8b12i98c3a39acce9eb85 [ at ] mail [ dot ] gmail [ dot ] com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > Hey folks, > > I've been running linux on a thumbdrive for a few months now. The > machine is on 24/7, and while I wouldn't go so far as to call it > "busy" - it certainly has things to do throughout the day and night > (it's a PVR). There have been a couple of incidents now, that have > made me question the integrity of the system - and I wonder about the > flash drive. > > I know (or think I know) that flash can "wear out" if read/writes are > done to the same spot on the disk repeatedly - as might be done to > /tmp. Does anyone think that might have happened over the course of > some months? Is there anything that can be done to distribute the use > of the drive so the wear is even? > > I have been (and will continue) googling about this - but I haven't > come up with much except tutorials of how to get started. > > Thanks. > > -- > "My country is the world, and my religion is to do good." > -- Thomas Paine > _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live: Friends get your Flickr, Yelp, and Digg updates when they e-mail you. http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9691817