should i buy this CF card?

[nipapa]

hi everyone,
you see i think i outgrew my 128MB cf card. Now i'm thinking of getting a 512mb cf card. I was offered a 2nd hand ridata CF card, searched everywhere donno wat's the speed of this ****. The guy offered me $70. The thing looks like this. (below)

Ok firstly, i'd like to know the advice of these experts around here then i'd like to know if CF card has a lifespan or usagespan.
Then i'd like to know how cheap they sell outside for a new one.

Thanks

 

[ericp]

I've got one just like it ... bought it 1.5 years ago for $230, so $70 sounds like a pretty good deal if you consider the original price of this card. However, do your research (search the threads on CS, or check other sites in Singapore like Eastgear) to see how much an equivalent 512MB will cost today. Prices are dropping all the time.

From what I've read, it's 32X or something like that, check out www.robgalbraith.com for more details.

 

[ortega]

Don't know about the speed, but I see that 512MB CF Cards are less than $200 and some less than $100

Videopro

see what I mean.

 

[nipapa]

THanks brudders.... i'll do so

 

[nipapa]

btw do cf cards have a lifespan? does it perform not as well if used too long already?

 

[Ah Pao]

If I remember correctly CF cards (or any flash-based memory for that matter) have a certain lifespan, based on the number of read-write cycles. The individual memory cells will fail over time, and once it's over a certain threshold, it's rendered unusable.

http://www.usefilm.com/photo_forum/17/446352/
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007