From: ansible@typhoon.xnet.com   
      
   Jan C. =?iso-8859-1?Q?Vorbr=FCggen?=  wrote:   
      
   >Does anybody have more technical info, or pointers to such, on the flash   
   >file system used by the MERs? The reason I ask is that JPL's explanation   
   >for Spirit's problem states that mounting such a file system uses system   
   >memory proportional to the number of files in it - at least, that seems   
   >to be the leading theory supported by experimentation. It would be the   
   >first file system I know of with that property, but perhaps the requirement   
   >to reduce write cycles on the flash lead to it. It also seems strange that   
   >the MER software engineers have so little understanding on exactly how   
   >the flash file system works that they cannot say with authority whether   
   >this theory is correct or not.   
      
   I apologize for not having any technical data myself.   
      
   However, I found that statement by NASA (more memory for more files)   
   quite odd myself.  Generally speaking, you want to keep the meta-data   
   (filename, creation time, size, etc.) in the same non-volatile storage   
   as the file itself.   
      
   It is probably a matter of reporters not understanding technical issues   
   the engineers don't fully understand (or can explain) themselves.   
      
   James Graves   
      
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