Firmware-How long does it last?

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JohnS - 27 Jun 2006 01:55 GMT

As digital cameras are capable of firmware updates, I assume that their
basic program is stored in something akin to "flash ram". How long
does the program last in this memory before it starts getting "soft"
bits and becomes unreliable? Some rumours I've heard say 10 years.
Does anyone have any authoritive info?
Thanks.

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Paul Heslop - 27 Jun 2006 02:40 GMT

> As digital cameras are capable of firmware updates, I assume that their
> basic program is stored in something akin to "flash ram". How long
> does the program last in this memory before it starts getting "soft"
> bits and becomes unreliable? Some rumours I've heard say 10 years.
> Does anyone have any authoritive info?
> Thanks.

I am not aware that all digital cams can have their firmware upgraded,
or at least I've never seen an upgrade for either of my point and
shoot Olympus cams. If you don;t get any joy try rec.photo.digital as
they're hot on SLR over there and I would assume a fair few will have
knowledge of firmware

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David J Taylor - 27 Jun 2006 07:44 GMT

> As digital cameras are capable of firmware updates, I assume that
> their basic program is stored in something akin to "flash ram". How
> long does the program last in this memory before it starts getting
> "soft" bits and becomes unreliable? Some rumours I've heard say 10
> years. Does anyone have any authoritive info?
> Thanks.

EEPROMs are fitted into many consumer equipments, and into most computers
today. I don't recall seeing any lifetime issues with these devices, at
least not when used mostly in read mode. It's not definitive, but see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read-only#EPROM.2FEEPROM.2FEAROM_lifetime

Cheers,
David

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J. Clarke - 27 Jun 2006 09:32 GMT

>> As digital cameras are capable of firmware updates, I assume that
>> their basic program is stored in something akin to "flash ram". How
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read-only#EPROM.2FEEPROM.2FEAROM_lifetime

Retention times for flash memory are typically given as 10-20 years, the
issue is that data is stored as charge on a capacitor and eventually that
capacitor discharges to a level at which ones and zeros become
indistinguishable. It may be longer or shorter though for particular
devices depending on the purpose for which the design was optimized.

For more specific information it's necessary to know the manufacturer and
part number on the chip.

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JohnS - 28 Jun 2006 01:00 GMT

Thanks for that.
I guess if one was happy with their camera and planned on using it for
10+ years it would be wise to get the latest firmware and keep it as a
backup and re-flash it on the camera's 10th birthday :-)

> Retention times for flash memory are typically given as 10-20 years, the
> issue is that data is stored as charge on a capacitor and eventually that
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> For more specific information it's necessary to know the manufacturer and
> part number on the chip.

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