NetBurner Community Forum

Just curious if the NetBurner flash has been rated for how many times you could write to flash memory without it failing.

Reading from flash won't degrade it right? Only writes?

Varies with Platform:

MOD5282: 10K
SBL2E: (I can't put my finger on the exact value, its more than 10K)

MOD5270
SB70LC
SB70 : 100K


MOD5234:
CB34:
PK70: 1M cycles typ.

What device are you asking about?

Reads do not degrade life of flash. Which product are you using? There are a few different flash ICs being used and their life varies. One of the ratings is for endurance, this is the number of erase/write cycles. A write is changing a 1 to a 0, this can be performed on a single byte in the flash space. An erase is changing 0s to 1s and must be done on an entire flash sector. You can do multiple writes in a single endurance cycle but only a single erase. The other measure of life is data retention, this is the minimum time that data on the device will not be corrupted.

The 2MB devices are rated for a guaranteed endurance of 100,000 cycles and are also rated for a typical endurance of 1,000,000 cycles. The data retention is rated for 20 years typical. The 512K devices with external flash are rated for 10,000 cycles guaranteed and 100,000 typical. Data retention is rated for a minimum of 100 years. The MCF5282 which has internal flash is rated at 10,000 cycles guaranteed and has no typical rating. The data retention is a minimum of 10 years. The 4MB flash is rated for 100,00 cycle typical endurance and 20-year data retention.

Keep in mind physical conditions such as voltage and temperature can have a big effect on the endurance and retention of a flash device. A noisy power supply and extreme temperatures will result in shorter life expectancy. You should also take a look at some of the other options out there if you need greater endurance. Do a search at any online distributor for NVRAM. There are a few devices that have SRAM with an internal battery. Data retention on these devices are usually guaranteed for 10 years with unlimited reads and writes but can get very pricey if you need more then 128KB. MRAM is a neat one but can get pricey since it is a brand new technology. These devices have unlimited endurance and retention greater then 20 years with no battery but can be sensitive to strong magnetic fields.

I'm using the MOD5282, and thanks for your informative responses.