"Andrew Turek" wrote in message
[…] I have heard that repeatedly reformatting any storage medium reduces its capacity over time, or is that an
Urban Computer Myth?
I never heard that, but there’s a grain of truth in it. That is, repeated formatting (or any kind of writing, for that matter) does shorten the lifetime of non-volatile computer memory (like flash cards). However, the lifetime is generally so long in the first place that by the time your flash card fails because of all the writing you’ve done to it, you’ll be using a camera that can only fit a handful of images on that flash card, if even one.
It’s theoretically possible that a flash card would just isolate the failed sections, thus reducing capacity. But in reality, I’m pretty sure that the entire card would just fail to work. Once part of it starts to go, the rest is sure to follow soon enough anyway. But whether the whole card fails, or just parts of it, you’re unlikely to ever manage to break one.
Pete
