Re:Sony and Panasonic announce the Archival Disc format
by hga on Tuesday March 11, 2014 @03:19PM
(#7381527)
Yeah, it's not at all clear to me that USB connectors aren't worth "thousands" of insertion/removal cycles. They look very well thought out, plenty of contact area. Looks like it depends on the thickness of the gold contacts, per this supplier: http://www.globalconnectortechnology.com/usb-connectors/
USB2.0 Full Size: 1,500 mating cycles, gold flash plating.
USB2.0 Mini: 5,000 mating cycles, 15µ” gold plating.
USB2.0 Micro: 10,000 mating cycles, 30µ” gold plating.
USB3.0 Full Size: 5,000 mating cycles, 30µ” gold plating.
USB 3.0 Micro: 10,000 mating cycles, 30µ” gold plating.
Why Micro types offer better durability?
Accomplished by moving leaf-spring from the PCB receptacle to plug, the most-stressed part is now on the cable side of the connection.
Inexpensive cable bears most wear instead of the µUSB device.
Plus as you note, it's easy to make it a cheap replaceable part. Use a USB extension cable on the computer side and you won't be wearing that out (I've done that trick in times past).
If your archival media is going through thousands of insertions, then it's not archival - it's the most inefficient swap device ever.
But I've connected/disconnected my laptop's USB mouse and keyboard a couple of thousands of time (several times a day over the last few years) and neither connector nor socket seem to be suffering.
Furthermore, most of my cold store drives are of the self-powered USB 5400 RPM variety (getting a decent 30-40MB/sec on USB3) - if something breaks, I replace the $1 cable that connects drive to computer.
Seriously, RDX seems like an awful choice - does someone here actually know differently?