Actively Cooling Flash Memory

During a recent data transfer to a new MicroSD Card, I noticed the memory card became extremely hot to the touch. There were several Gigabytes (around 30+ GB) transferred, due to transferring all the photos, music and videos from my old card to the new. This made me think, can this contribute to a reduced lifespan of the card? Will this affect the transfer speed during the process? Can heat increase the likelihood of data corruption?

So I set off to test some of these hypotheses. To do that I needed a few things; some software to test transfer speeds and stability, an external card reader/write, a small infrared digital thermometer to take the temperature and a mini-blower style fan to cool the MicroSD Card during the transfer. Below is what I used:

• 1 x USB Multi-Card Reader & Writer
• 1 x 12V DC Mini-Blower Fan
• 1 x Digital IR Thermometer
• 1 x HDD/SSD/SD Bechmarking Software – Crystal DiskMark
• 1 x HDD/SSD/SD Bechmarking & Stability Software – HDTune

Testing Phase

At the start of each test, the ambient temperature of the memory card was 72°F, removed from the reader. Each test started with the card and Reader/Writer removed and allowed to cool to 72°F.

NO FAN

For test one, I plugged in the memory card reader with the MicroSD already inserted. Ran Crystal DiskMark and took temperatures throughout the process, the purpose of this test was to get read/write speeds and the temperatures during each phase:

• Temp before start: 72°F
• Temp during test file creation: 97°F
• Temp (peak) during Read test: 92°F
• Temp (peak) during Write test: 100°F
• Temp at end of test: 92°F
• Temp resting after test: 77.5°F

For the 2^nd test, I ran HDTune to see the stability:

WITH FAN

For test 3, I plugged in the memory card reader with the MicroSD already inserted. Positioned the blower fan 1cm aware from the front of the card reader, allowing air to blow around all sides of the card and even into the Reader/Writer device through the unused slots, potentially cooling the controller inside as well. Ran Crystal DiskMark and took temperatures throughout the process, the purpose of this test was to get read/write speeds and the temperatures during each phase:

• Temp before start: 72°F
• Temp during test file creation: 80.5°F
• Temp (peak) during Read test: 74.5°F
• Temp (peak) during Write test: 77.5°F
• Temp at end of test: 80°F
• Temp resting after test: 72°F

For the 4^th test, I ran HDTune to see the stability:

Comparison

You can see the temperatures are significantly lower with the Fan On:

• 16.5° F Cooler during test file creation
• 17.5° F cooler during the Read test
• 22.5° F cooler during the Write test
• 5.5° F cooler resting after test

Well, obviously the temp’s were going to be less with active cooling. Was I expecting something else? No, what I was looking for was the impact of cooling. As you can see from the zoomed in screenshot below, the transfer was significantly more stable when we had active cooling.

 

Furthermore in the Crystal DiskMark screenshots, you can see the Read speeds was much more consistent with active cooling than without.

Conclusions

From the testing, I was able to prove the following:

• Transfer speeds are more consistent
• Transfer was more stable
• Memory card temperatures remained low

What does this mean? I believe that this indicates that actively cooling a flash memory device such as a memory card will provide the following benefits:

• Longevity of the flash device - Due to less temperature stresses, the device may last longer.
• Faster data transfer to/from the flash device - Due to the consistent speeds, the data will transfer quicker.
• Reduced chance of data corruption - Due to the lower temperatures and stable transfer, there is less chance of corrupted data during the transfer.

Considerations:

1. Extrapolating this for longer transfer’s may increase the need for active cooling.
2. Shorter transfers may have less impact on transfer speeds.
3. Test’s were conducted 3 times for each scenario.

So What? Well, most people don’t need or care about this. However there are a few that might, some of these folks would be:

Data Archivist would benefit from using active cooling as the data they are trying to preserve needs to be free from defect (corruption) and they need to ensure that all data is transferred before the source device (flash media in this case) fails. During large/long transfers, the likelihood of the device failing is higher due to the high temperatures.

Photographers may also find this beneficial as well, their photos can be worth thousands of dollar’s/pound’s/euro’s. Corruption of the source and/or destination image can result in a significant loss of revenue. Using a reliable external Reader/Writer (as opposed to connecting the camera to the computer) and active cooling on the card and Reader/Writer can help reduce the chances of corrupted data and lost revenue.

Thanks for reading and I hope this provided some food for thought. I had been wanting to test this for some time and never got around to it. Perhaps for the next one, I will take apart the Reader/Writer and liquid cool or active cool (fan and heat-sink) the entire card surface during the test.

***Disclaimer: I am not a scientist, these tests were for fun and for a proof of concept. Take the data and conclusions with a pinch of salt and decide for yourself if this information is of any relevance to you and make your own decisions based on your own thoughts and conclusions.