Use of Removable Storage Media

Use of Removable Storage Media

imc measurement systems offer stand-alone operation and can store measurement data directly in the device. Frequently, the removable storage media comes in the form of flash cards. They are considered to be robust and easy to handle. However, some simple precautions must be noted when using this type of storage when conducting measurements.

Maximum data rates specified by the manufacturer are only achieved when dealing with new products and under very specific conditions. Compact Flash cards are considered consumable and therefore require qualified care and attention; if you were dealing with a camera, you may only lose a little comfort, but with a measurement device, you can lose your data.

Measurement devices store their data at the rate it is acquired, that is, in real time. If the acquisition speed exceeds the rate at which the data can be saved, then a loss of data will occur due to a data overflow. The required data rate is dependent on the settings of the measurement device, such as number of channels, sampling rate, length of test, etc. The maximum data rate the storage medium can accommodate is also determined by other factors, such as its formatting (cluster size) as well as aging (fragmentation).

The white paper, "Use of Removable Storage Media", explains technical aspects and provides guidelines for the care and optimized operation of these components.