Went to a hamfest today and bought a Thinkware Dashcam. X500. Pretty
old (only lists XP, win7, and win8) but never used.

The manual says "The MicroSD card should be formatted every 2 weeks to maximize the lifetime of the memory card." Why is that? This is the
reason for this post.

Has a lot of features, GPS, Lane Departure Warning, Forward Collision
Warning, Front Vehicle Departure. Only cost a dollar!

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 4/27/24 20:21, micky wrote:

"The MicroSD card should be formatted every 2 weeks to
maximize the lifetime of the memory card."

If you want to extend the card's life, set all the
charged to zero. That means completely erasing
the card. Not real practical.

I think someone did not understand the technology
when they wrote that.

The biggest problem I see with SD cards is accidentally
cracking them with handling.

I'd ignore the warning and back up the card somewhere else.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 4/27/2024 11:21 PM, micky wrote:

Went to a hamfest today and bought a Thinkware Dashcam. X500. Pretty
old (only lists XP, win7, and win8) but never used.

The manual says "The MicroSD card should be formatted every 2 weeks to maximize the lifetime of the memory card." Why is that? This is the reason for this post.

Has a lot of features, GPS, Lane Departure Warning, Forward Collision Warning, Front Vehicle Departure. Only cost a dollar!

You'll want to turn most of that off. It creates quite a few crap files
in a single driving run.

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/reviews/thinkware-dash-cam-x500-review/

Capacity Micro SD Card 16GB / 32GB / 64GB UHS-I

The upper limit may be determined by "test" and not "design". The
file system may be limited to 2TB. The flash interface could likely
support much higher capacity micro-SD. At the time the product was released, maybe a 64GB UHS-I is all they had to test it with.

DETAILED SPECIFICATIONS [ Thinkware Dashcam X500 ]
Detailed Specifications Camera 2.4M Pixels, 1/2.9" (SONY CMOS Image sensor) Display Panel 2.7" Clear Display (320x240)
Viewing Angle Approximately 140° (diagonally)
Video ALL Full HD (1920X1080) for front & rear view camera when connected Capacity Micro SD Card 16GB / 32GB / 64GB UHS-I
Recording Modes Continuous Recording Mode, Incident Recording Mode, Manual Recording Mode,
Parking Surveillance Recording Mode, Capturing Still Image, Audio Recording
Acceleration Sensor 3-Axis Acceleration G-Sensor (3D, ±4G)
GPS Built-in GPS (Glonass supported)
Power Input Voltage: DC 12/24V (Max 35V),
Power Cable Port x 1 (3.5pi) / Power Consumption: 5.3W (mean) -
2ch,30fp , 3.5W (mean) - 1ch,30fp / Super Capacitor
Interface 1 x Video-IN (micro USB),
DC-IN,
Micro SD slot
ETC Front Security LED

*******

The WD Purple SD got a mention here for having both
static and dynamic wear leveling.

https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/ex7dvo/quick_reminder_that_sd_cards_with_wearleveling/

But the specs don't seem all that impressive,
and no wear life specified. They spec a read speed
and the write speed is "Class 10".

The 64GB Purple QD101 is actually 32TBW. Comparatively speaking, my spare SSD 1TB
is 600TBW and this would be 512TBW equivalent (as far as the flash technology was concerned, "TLC like"). You would divide the 32TBW by the recording datarate
(if you can even figure that out), to get some estimate of hours. Maybe 4000 hours.

https://www.amazon.ca/Western-Digital-MicroSD-Surveillance-WDD064G1P0C/dp/B088CFSPV6

If you connect a rear camera to it, the datarate during writes is
going to increase, perhaps double.

Paul

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

micky wrote:

Went to a hamfest today and bought a Thinkware Dashcam. X500. Pretty
old (only lists XP, win7, and win8) but never used.

The manual says "The MicroSD card should be formatted every 2 weeks to maximize the lifetime of the memory card." Why is that? This is the reason for this post.

Has a lot of features, GPS, Lane Departure Warning, Forward Collision Warning, Front Vehicle Departure. Only cost a dollar!

"Why is it important to regularly format my SD card?

The reason we recommend you format your SD card every 2-3 weeks is
because unlike ordinary video cameras, Dash Cams continuously record in
a loop. The continuous writing and overwriting of files puts a lot of
stress onto the SD card, if a card has not been designed for this very
specific use it is far more likely to experience problems.

Please note: If you do a lot of driving, you will need to format your SD
card more frequently than the average person. We recommend taxi drivers
format their SD cards at least once a week for example.
What will happen if I don't format my SD card?

If you fail to format your SD card for a prolonged period of time you
could experience the following types of issues:

SD card error messages
Recording failure
Automatic recording failure
Frozen screen
Gaps between recordings
Corrupted or unplayable files
Failure to start-up and shutdown
Inoperable buttons

Even though these issues are far more common with Non-Nextbase branded
SD cards, we strongly recommend formatting our SD cards frequently too." (https://support.nextbase.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360018104518-Do-I-need-to-format-my-SD-card)

********************

Their experience must count, even when their rationale doesn't ring too
true.
We're dealing with low-cost items here. I'd be tempted to try it out,
and leave it unformatted to see what happens.

Ed

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 28.04.2024 12:29, Ed Cryer wrote:

micky wrote:

Their experience must count, even when their rationale doesn't ring too
true.
We're dealing with low-cost items here. I'd be tempted to try it out,

Maybe, while recording the video, the FAT is continuously updated
and therefore much more often overwritten than the blocks which
hold the video data. And maybe they use a special formatting routine
which position the FAT at a random position. But that would mean
you have to format the card in the device and not in a PC.

But there are SD cards with Wear Leveling which wouldn't require
a periodic formatting:

https://www.delkin.com/blog/how-do-wear-leveling-sd-cards-work/

|| A recognized flaw of flash memory is that data blocks can be overused,
|| which may lead to unwanted erasures and data loss. Wear leveling
|| algorithms are the fix. These algorithms, which are added to the SD
|| card design, prevent any single block from being overused so that the
|| data is protected and the overall life of the card is maximized.
||
|| In wear leveling SD cards, the algorithm causes the controller of
|| the card to keep an erase count of the blocks, and new data is
|| written to the block with the lowest erase count each time. This
|| process ensures that the blocks wear as evenly as possible. When
|| wear leveling algorithms are not in use, the flash memory tends
|| to write data to the same blocks over and over again, while not
|| writing data to some blocks at all. This causes the blocks of
|| data that are overused to wear out, rendering the memory card
|| useless even though there are still available blocks that have
|| not yet received any data. The use of wear leveling algorithms
|| means that SD cards can provide the reliability necessary for
|| industrial applications.


https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/ex7dvo/quick_reminder_that_sd_cards_with_wearleveling/?rdt=46791

|| This is the statement I got back from Engineering regarding the
|| wear leveling inquiry:
||
|| Our WD Purple MicroSD's do both static and dynamic wear-leveling.
|| Meaning all blocks across whole address space are considered for
|| wear leveling regardless of if and how the blocks are used. This
|| keeps the number of program erase cycles consistent on all blocks.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Sun, 28 Apr 2024 13:26:56 +0200, Herbert Kleebauer <klee@unibwm.de> wrote:

On 28.04.2024 12:29, Ed Cryer wrote:

micky wrote:

Their experience must count, even when their rationale doesn't ring too
true.
We're dealing with low-cost items here. I'd be tempted to try it out,

Well, especially what was in your full post makes sense. They are
talking about normal errors, or maybe errors from so much constant
writing, and if you only check on the SD card after you have a
collision, it will be too late. But not convinced reformatting really
makes the card last longer.

Maybe, while recording the video, the FAT is continuously updated
and therefore much more often overwritten than the blocks which
hold the video data. And maybe they use a special formatting routine
which position the FAT at a random position. But that would mean
you have to format the card in the device and not in a PC.

But there are SD cards with Wear Leveling which wouldn't require
a periodic formatting:

https://www.delkin.com/blog/how-do-wear-leveling-sd-cards-work/

I'll read this later today.

I woudln't have bought this at regular price, but it it was a dollar. I
tend to think it will be one more thing I'll have to worry about, plus
when I park with the top down, it will attract thieves, who will then
rummage through my glove box too. ?????

I have only had one collision in the last 45 years and it was my fault,
so what good would a camera have done! (Black ice, at night. Road
clear except where trees had kept ice from melting.)

|| A recognized flaw of flash memory is that data blocks can be overused,
|| which may lead to unwanted erasures and data loss. Wear leveling
|| algorithms are the fix. These algorithms, which are added to the SD
|| card design, prevent any single block from being overused so that the
|| data is protected and the overall life of the card is maximized.
||
|| In wear leveling SD cards, the algorithm causes the controller of
|| the card to keep an erase count of the blocks, and new data is
|| written to the block with the lowest erase count each time. This
|| process ensures that the blocks wear as evenly as possible. When
|| wear leveling algorithms are not in use, the flash memory tends
|| to write data to the same blocks over and over again, while not
|| writing data to some blocks at all. This causes the blocks of
|| data that are overused to wear out, rendering the memory card
|| useless even though there are still available blocks that have
|| not yet received any data. The use of wear leveling algorithms
|| means that SD cards can provide the reliability necessary for
|| industrial applications.

https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/ex7dvo/quick_reminder_that_sd_cards_with_wearleveling/?rdt=46791

|| This is the statement I got back from Engineering regarding the
|| wear leveling inquiry:
||
|| Our WD Purple MicroSD's do both static and dynamic wear-leveling.
|| Meaning all blocks across whole address space are considered for
|| wear leveling regardless of if and how the blocks are used. This
|| keeps the number of program erase cycles consistent on all blocks.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)