8000 radios and EMMC storage

Trucker

After reading the new hardware manual for the 8000 radios, I find that the SD card storage that the original 6000 radios use has been changed to eMMC modules for memory storage.  From what I have been able to find using Google, eMMC memory modules have a similar lifetime to the SD cards that the older radios use. ( industrial grade SD cards) Both types of memory use wear leveling to minimize problems with lost data. ( among other things) One difference that I might be concerned about is,  unlike the SD cards used in the 6000 radios, the eMMC storage modules have to be soldered to the board. And are not user serviceable.  So, again, unlike SD cards, the end user cannot change out a defective eMMC module and get back on the air quickly.  ( if one keeps a spare SD card) Overall specs are similar.  Similar storage capacities,  read/write speeds and similar lifetime.   Costs as far as the components themselves, the eMMC is cheaper than a removable SD card. I wonder how this change will effect usage of the 8000 radios long term. I hope I am around to find out . James  WD5GWY

Steve-N5AC

There's a bit of a long story here which, on one hand I don't want to bore you with, but on the other hand I would like to reassure you and the details may help.

I suspect I have posted here or somewhere else the saga surrounding the SD Cards in the FLEX-6000 series so I don't want to go into a lot of detail other than to say that 1) the cards we selected originally were designed for a minimum 10-year life span in our application (based on our write cycles, durability of memory card, etc.), but 2) due to multiple defects that surfaced over the years with the card itself, the driver that supports the card and the processor that talks to the card, corruption of the card occurred in multiple situations leading to a need to replace the card. It really was a perfect storm that caused the issues.

With the new processor and eMMC card, while we do not have the ability to easily replace the actual eMMC part on the board (but it is possible), we have connectorized the CPU board with the eMMC on-board and the entire sub-assembly is replaceable. Not only this, but the cost to do so is relatively low — low enough in fact that it did not make sense to handle the memory another way. So our plan is, therefore, 1) by using a CPU/eMMC that are integrated from the start with drivers and a large audience for this complete system we hope to avoid any driver/CPU issues that would lead to the corruption that caused the issues in the FLEX-6000 radios, and 2) as memory needs replacement after many years, this can be accomplished by replacing the CPU board which is relatively inexpensive.

Trucker

Steve,

Thank you for the information. This is exactly what I am interested in finding out. This gives me more confidence that my thoughts on upgrading to a 8600M at some point would be a good idea.

James

WD5GWY