HI, I just purchaced a Toshiba SmartMedia 3.3 for my Oly D600L. In the paperwork that came with the card it mentioned that the lifetime of the card is determined by the number of times it is used and erased... "The life of the SmartMedia is limited. Data will not be written or cleared if it is used for a very long time or when written or cleared many times." Aproximatly how long should I expect the card to work properly. I know of course it depends upon the usage. But say erasing it a couple of times a week after downloading pictures.

Thanks, Henry

-- Henry Hagemeier (jhhagemeier@hotmail.com), December 19, 1998

Answers

I don't have any figures at hand, but as I recall, the number of "cycles" (write/erase) you can expect is pretty high, on the order of 10,000. If you completely fill and empty a card 2x a week (100x/year), 10,000 cycles would translate to a hundred years of usage. CF cards seem to claim a higher number of cycles, but the basic technology (Flash ROM) is the same, as far as I know. How about it - anyone out there have firm numbers on this?

-- Dave Etchells (web@imaging-resource.com), December 19, 1998.

My opinion is that CF is better technology...mainly due to it's built in controller. But Smartmedia is sexier in it's much smaller form factor. Unless you need the Larger sizes that CF currently provides up to 64MB...(Smartmedia currently has a max of 16MB tho word is 32MB is right around the corner) I really wouldn't worry about it and just decide on the Camera you want and take what comes with your camera.

-- Andrew Valderas (rudeandy@wam.umd.edu), January 04, 1999.