Kingston Technology Flash Memory Manual page 4

Kingston engineers
test and select high-
performance controllers
to ensure that Kingston's
Flash cards are among the
performance leaders in
the industry.
For example, Kingston' s CompactFlash
than one (1) bit in 1,000,000,000,000,000 bits read (1 bit per 1015 bits read).
• Kingston Flash Data Retention: Kingston Flash storage devices are rated for up to 10 years
under normal use. Important information should also be backed up on other media for
long-term safekeeping.
• Wear-Leveling Technology: Kingston Flash storage devices incorporate controllers
utilizing advanced wear-leveling technology, which distributes write cycles across the
Flash card. Wear-leveling thus extends the useful life of a Flash memory card (for details,
please see Kingston Flash Cell Endurance section, next).
• Flash Cell Endurance: For Multi-Level Cell (MLC) Flash, up to 10,000 write cycles
per physical sector. For Single-Level Cell (SLC) Flash, up to 100,000 write cycles per
physical sector.
According to Toshiba, the inventor of Flash memory: "the 10,000 cycles of MLC NAND is
more than sufficient for a wide range of consumer applications, from storing documents to
digital photos. For example, if a 256-MB MLC NAND Flash-based card can typically store
250 pictures from a 4-megapixel camera (a conservative estimate), its 10,000 write/erase
cycles, combined with wear-leveling algorithms in the controller, will enable the user to
store and/or view approximately 2.5 million pictures within the expected useful life of
the card." 1
For USB Flash drives, Toshiba calculated that a 10,000 write cycle endurance would enable
customers to "completely write and erase the entire contents once per day for 27 years,
well beyond the life of the hardware."
SLC Flash based-products, typically found in Kingston' s Elite Pro
and DataTraveler II, II Plus – Migo Edition and Secure / Secure – Privacy Edition USB Flash
drives, offer both high performance and high endurance.
• Automatic Bad Sector Remapping: Kingston Flash controllers automatically lock out
sections with bad memory cells ("bad blocks") and move the data to other sections
("spare blocks") to avoid data corruption. During factory formatting (as described in
Section 2), spare blocks are set aside on the Flash storage device for remapping bad
sectors over time to extend the useful life and reliability of the Flash storage device.
• High-Quality Connectors: Kingston' s Flash storage devices have connectors rated for
more than 10,000 insertions.
• Operating, Temperature and Humidity: 32°F to 140°F (0° C to 60° C), 5% to 95%
humidity (typical).
1 Toshiba press release, "Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc.
Releases Performance Research on MLC NAND Flash Memory for Consumer
Applications," May 10, 2004
kingston.com/flash
® cards have a rated error specification of less
™ /Ultimate Flash cards
c o M M I T T E D T o M E M o r y
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