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Re: {Debian (>=Jessie)} AND { MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, etc}

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On 12/02/16 10:07, Richard Owlett wrote:
> I have a well used Lenovo R61 Thinkpad whose sole raison d'etre is to
> serve as a test platform for experiments which may spectacularly fail.
>
> To quote a product description, it has:
>   Card Reader
>     4 in 1 card reader
>     Supported Flash Memory
>     Memory Stick PRO, MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, xD-Picture Card
>
> My local supplier has 32GB cards in stock. Not sure which of the above
> flavors, as I just asked him what he had available that were compatible
> with my hardware.
>
> I'm pondering an application that could be accomplished with USB flash
> drives.
> It would be much "NICER" if that x GB were physically "inside" the
> laptop's profile.
>
> My questions:
>   1. Can Debian (and to what extent) make use of that storage?
>   2. Can Debian itself reside on that medium?
>      I'm thinking in terms of changing look/feel/function/capabilities/...
>      of the machine by swapping media before "power up".
>      [The BIOS *DOES* have some capability to specify precedence of boot
> devices.]
>   3. Any Debian people using this capability who would care to comment?
>      ["off list" replies fine]

I discovered that Debian can be installed to USB flash drives a few 
years ago, and now use them as a poor man's SSD system drive in my file 
server and backup server.


My favorite are SanDisk Ultra Fit 3.0 16 GB -- they have a compact form 
factor that only sticks out of the port ~1/4", they seek faster than a 
HDD (so random reads are faster than a HDD), and they write fast enough. 
  The downside is that they run hot and the machine can stutter when 
multitasking.  I provision them using 90% capacity (0.5 GB boot, 0.5 GB 
encrypted swap, 13.4 GB encrypted root) per SSD under-provisioning 
recommendations, but haven't done any benchmarking to see if it has any 
effect.  AFAIK there is no such thing as trim or secure erase on USB 
flash drives.  I haven't seen any problems with worn out blocks (yet).


As others have commented, I don't think SDHC cards are designed for a 
lot of erase/ write cycles.  STFW for the specifications to be sure.


I worked on a wearable computer product in late 2001 with a Windows 2000 
CF system drive.  The CF cards were chosen for motion/ vibration/ impact 
resistance and were expected to last at least as long as a HDD sitting 
in a desktop.  Again, STFW for specifications.


David

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{Debian (>=Jessie)} AND { MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, etc} Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2016-12-02 19:10 +0100
  Re: {Debian (>=Jessie)} AND { MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, etc} Jochen Spieker <ml@well-adjusted.de> - 2016-12-02 23:30 +0100
    Re: {Debian (>=Jessie)} AND { MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, etc} Steven Mainor <steve@degga.net> - 2016-12-03 00:00 +0100
      Re: {Debian (>=Jessie)} AND { MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, etc} Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2016-12-03 04:00 +0100
      Re: {Debian (>=Jessie)} AND { MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, etc} deloptes <deloptes@gmail.com> - 2016-12-03 08:30 +0100
        Re: {Debian (>=Jessie)} AND { MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, etc} Curt <curty@free.fr> - 2016-12-03 10:40 +0100
          Re: {Debian (>=Jessie)} AND { MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, etc} Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2016-12-03 11:40 +0100
        Re: {Debian (>=Jessie)} AND { MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, etc} Jochen Spieker <ml@well-adjusted.de> - 2016-12-03 14:10 +0100
          Re: {Debian (>=Jessie)} AND { MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, etc} Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2016-12-03 15:20 +0100
            Re: {Debian (>=Jessie)} AND { MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, etc} Jochen Spieker <ml@well-adjusted.de> - 2016-12-03 19:50 +0100
          Re: {Debian (>=Jessie)} AND { MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, etc} Steven Mainor <steve@degga.net> - 2016-12-03 22:50 +0100
      Re: {Debian (>=Jessie)} AND { MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, etc} Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2016-12-03 10:20 +0100
    Re: {Debian (>=Jessie)} AND { MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, etc} Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2016-12-03 04:00 +0100
      Re: {Debian (>=Jessie)} AND { MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, etc} Jochen Spieker <ml@well-adjusted.de> - 2016-12-03 14:10 +0100
        Re: {Debian (>=Jessie)} AND { MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, etc} Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2016-12-03 15:30 +0100
          Re: {Debian (>=Jessie)} AND { MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, etc} Jochen Spieker <ml@well-adjusted.de> - 2016-12-03 20:00 +0100
  Re: {Debian (>=Jessie)} AND { MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, etc} David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> - 2016-12-03 19:50 +0100

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