NES PowerPak - Lifespan of Compact Flash card?

[Sargon | 2]

I have an NES PowerPak from RetroUSB that I purchased many years ago, along with a Compact Flash card.  I just pulled it out and decided to start using it, but I'm wondering if I should be concerned about the reliability of the Compact Flash card, with it being several years old.  Does anyone have experience with Compact Flash cards and how long they last?  This one has barely been used, but with its age I just want to make sure my save files are safe.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

I was wondering the same thing recently. Apparently they are about like NES batteries. The short answer seems to be 5 years, but they could last for 20+.

[a3quit4s | 4,096]

Like other flash media it depends on how often it is written to. If you just have it sitting in the power pack and never write to it it’ll last forever given you never get near the 100,000 cycles. Even if you update it every year or so it should still last your lifetime. 

[Sargon | 2]

29 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

Like other flash media it depends on how often it is written to. If you just have it sitting in the power pack and never write to it it’ll last forever given you never get near the 100,000 cycles.. 

If that is the only consideration, then I agree that a CF card would effectively last forever in a PowerPak, since the card is only being written to when new ROM's are added (rarely) and when game saves are written to memory (infrequently).  I do still wonder though if there is some level of degradation with age, regardless of actual write cycles.  It probably isn't enough to worry about in this case, and I'll just backup my saves a few times a year to be safe.

[a3quit4s | 4,096]

There are probably some poorer quality CFs that won’t last that long, the manufacturer of it should list on their website the expected lifespan. Honestly though just keep a backup of your root ROM folder in OneDrive or google drive and if the card dies you always have a backup somewhere

[Tulpa | 3,492]

The one in my older digital camera is still working after nearly 20 years of off and on use.

CF cards are pretty cheap, like $10 for a 1gb, so I'd just stock up on a couple if you're concerned.

Edited July 9, 2020 by Tulpa

[Nes Freak | 584]

CFs are flash based and have no battery to hold the data.  the card will likely last a lifetime.  the only way data will fail is bit rot.  this can be prevented by reformatting the card and write all the data back on once every 10 years to be safe.  the card if tons of data is written to it will eventually burn out the card but it takes a tremendous amount of data written to do that.  modern cards can write several terabytes before failing. 

[BingoRingo | 7]

To be safe, I backup my Everdrives/SD2SNES SD cards every once in a while. If the card fails, it will be as easy as buying a new one and copying the last backup.