I’m wondering: USB memory sticks become larger over time, and they don’t have to be replaced with a bigger model that soon.
However, while hard disks and “real SSDs” support S.M.A.R.T that might warn the user that the device will be dying soon due to old age, operating hours, or “wear” of storage cells, or more disk sectors becoming unreadable, there doesn’t seem to be a comparable mechanism for USB sticks, right?
On Linux a neccessary precondition for getting S.M.A.R.T. readouts is that the “USB bridge” has to be known, and it has to support S.M.A.R.T. at the same level as the device does (e.g. 48-bit addressing).
One of my new USB 3.0 sticks (Verbatim Metal Excutive, EAN code 23942 99106) also brings up “unknown USB bridge” in Linux, but I’m afraid that even when that “USB bridge” (whatever it is) is known, I can’t get health indicators from the device.
So what are the facts?
Is is a cost thing that USB sticks don’t support S.M.A.R.T.?
Is there an alternative vendor-independent mechanism instead?
