SxS Durability/Reliability

[Todd Moore]

This is what it says on Sony's web site regarding the SxS card


Durability/Reliability

Shock: 1500G
Vibration: 15G
Insertion/Extraction: 30,000 times
Drop test: 150cm

Question...... What is Insertion/Extraction: 30,000 times????

[Piotr Wozniacki]

Originally Posted by Todd Moore

Question...... What is Insertion/Extraction: 30,000 times????

I guess you can insert/eject a card inyour camera or ExpressCard reader slots that many times before it breaks. Statistical and extrapolating number, of course!

[Robb Cox]

Originally Posted by Todd Moore

This is what it says on Sony's web site regarding the SxS card


Durability/Reliability

Shock: 1500G
Vibration: 15G
Insertion/Extraction: 30,000 times
Drop test: 150cm

Question...... What is Insertion/Extraction: 30,000 times????

Insert = inserting into camera, reader or computer slot..

Extraction = extracting from camera, reader or computer slot..

Put simply, after ALOT of use the contacts inside the card may wear out.. In saying that, compact flash cards have a specified durability life as well but I have been using a particular Ridata 1gb flash card (among others) with my stills gear for about the last 5 years with no issues whatsoever...

[Todd Moore]

Thanks for the replies.

Another question,
What is the write/delete life span of Flash Drives?

[Piotr Wozniacki]

Originally Posted by Todd Moore

Thanks for the replies.

Another question,
What is the write/delete life span of Flash Drives?

C'mon, I'm sure you can figure this out by yourself...

[Todd Moore]

Originally Posted by Piotr Wozniacki

C'mon, I'm sure you can figure this out by yourself...

Sure I can guess ......A LONG TIME
Just curious

[Keith Malone]

Originally Posted by Todd Moore

Question...... What is Insertion/Extraction: 30,000 times????

With an assumed insertion/extraction lifetime of 30,000 times and just suppose you insert and extract the card approximately 4 times a day on average. With this assumed level of use, Sony are saying that the card should be good for over 20 years. I can live with that. :)

[George Kroonder]

So you're shooting on 8GB cards, shutteling them between the EX1 and a MBP or the like. That is four insert/extract actions. That means 30000/4= 7500x.

This is what it's rated at, so lets assume you want to be on the safe side for realiability and only rely on it upto 80% of 7500x = 6000x.

Lets say you typacally shoot 15 minutes on each card @ 1080 HQ. So that's 6000/4=1500 hours.

Shoot for 4 hours a day and that is 'only' 375 days. Shoot more, get less; use multiple cards, and spread the usage out.

Too early to tell, but maybe you need to replace the cards within a year or two...

George/

[Alister Chapman]

If you are shooting for 4 hours a day 365 days a year you should be making a small fortune so replacing the cards shouldn't be an issue. Also consider just how much 6000 hours of tape stock would cost!

[Steve Connor]

Besides after a year you'll want to buy the bigger cheaper cards that are available anyway!

[Warren Kawamoto]

I haven't seen this in any Sony literature, but I'm curious. Are SxS cards immune to airport X-rays, CT scans, and high magnetic fields? Can you walk through a metal detector multiple times without damage to the contents of an SxS card? When traveling by air, where do you put your precious cards full of irreplacable footage?

[David Heath]

Originally Posted by Warren Kawamoto

When traveling by air, where do you put your precious cards full of irreplacable footage?

The choice has to be in your hand or hold baggage, as I doubt they'd let you walk through the body scanner with them on your person, same as keys, phones, etc.

I've not heard of one single case of damage to any solid state memory card in a consumer camera, phone, iPod etc when a bag was X-rayed, but have heard of many instances of hold baggage going astray. (And once even lost blank tapes in this way.) My vote is therefore for in hand baggage.

[Alister Chapman]

I can assure you that SxS cards are extremely robust. I know this for a fact, but you'll have to wait until NAB to find out more ;)

One of the great things with SxS and file based systems is that you can easily carry your valuable footage as carry-on, either on SxS cards, DVD backups or hard drives. Can't say the same for 10 hours worth of HDCAM tapes!

[Bob Diaz]

Originally Posted by Todd Moore

Thanks for the replies.

Another question,
What is the write/delete life span of Flash Drives?

The early flash memory was around 10,000 cycles of write/delete.

Today, I believe that has been increased to around 100,000 cycles.

Even if we use 10,000 cycles, that's a LOT of filming...
Try recording over the same tape 10,000 times... ;-)


Bob Diaz