[fpc-devel] Bounty for MIPS

[Mark Morgan Lloyd]

Hans-Peter Diettrich wrote:
> Marco van de Voort schrieb:
> 
>> I've seen 2.5" usb-only HDD's crash laptops, and my experiences with 
>> other
>> arm devices (Sheeva, goflex are the same).
>>
>> In short, no devices that don't have an own PSU.
> 
> My experience is quite different from yours. I've a couple of external 
> 3.5" HHDs with external PSUs, which ceased to work a few days after 
> warranty expired, with a hot cabinet and inoperative HDD, all data lost :-(

The Buffalo I've got here has adequate convection slots, and provision 
for a clipon fan.

> In contrast none of my external 2.5" HDDs with USB power failed (so far).

I find I've got a (not very fast) laptop which will power an external 
(Maxtor) 2.5", despite it not working with desktop or server computers 
or with a commodity hub (I tried earlier). Comparing a USB-connected 
Buffalo (with its own PSU), USB-connected/powered Maxtor, and internal 
IDE drive I see hardly any difference in performance when I run my 
standard "torture test", provided that in all cases the filesystems are 
ext3.

If the filesystem is FAT performance is only 50%. But at the same time 
at least some Flash storage is known to be optimised for FAT, and 
reformatting for a different filesystem could impact its lifetime.

Trying to drag ourselves back on topic: when it comes to something 
"unusual" like a MIPS-based board or time on an IBM mainframe, we've 
just got to make do with what we can get. If a development board has an 
IDE (PATA/SATA) interface then it's probably worth using, but in all 
cases we can usefully be aware of the peculiarities of the underlying 
technology: i.e. whether it risks running hot, takes a lot of current or 
has constraints on its life.

-- 
Mark Morgan Lloyd
markMLl .AT. telemetry.co .DOT. uk

[Opinions above are the author's, not those of his employers or colleagues]