Dreaded red and green

[craig c]

Well it seems it’s almost inevitable, if this forum is any gauge, but I’ve got the dreaded flashing red and green lights of death. From what I gather, I buy a new sd card from Brennan. I’m no techy so can’t imagine what wears out on a memory card…

Anyone know how much and how long to get one in the States?

[David L Raines]

I would suggest you buy a "better" card.   I've replaced mine with the Endurance series of cards that are meant for constant writing.  Whether of not that is needed, I've found that it's rock solid in a lot of my devices, including the B2.   https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HQXQ9NG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1  - it comes with the USB adaptor and then follow these steps:

https://www.brennan.co.uk/itemcontent.php/content/Techy

This shows you how to change the SD card and on the left side of the page, there is a link to the software to make the image and finally, download the image. 

[PMB]

Hi Craig,

The B2 can be fussy about how the power is turned off which can occasionally cause corruption. The correct procedure is -

With the B2 paused and displaying the clock, press and hold the Play/Stop button until 'saving' is displayed before releasing the button. Wait for the clock to be shown again before powering off. This just ensures the B2 is idle - not accessing the hard drive or SD Card - when power is removed.

If you are unable to program a new card, as suggested, please email us on -   thebrennanb2   @   gmail   .   com   - no spaces, requesting a new card.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Daniel Taylor]

Getting an Endurance SD card is a good idea.  I wish I'd known about that before I bought my spare SD card.  Next time I need one for my B2, that's the way I'll go.

Although a better SD card will reduce the chances that the card itself will go bad, it won't stop the software from becoming corrupted.  In many cases, the card with the corrupted software can be re-flashed with new software.  As long as the card is still good, you can replace the software.

[craig c]

I’m aware of the save shutdown procedure and (almost) always use it. With summer travel etc. I haven’t even turned the B2 on in a month until this week. I’m not very tech savvy so hesitant to try the software flashing thing. Also don’t have a card reader adapter thing but I’ll give it a try I guess

[Davywhizz]

Looks like the Endurance cards come with an adapter?

Flashing is very easy (he said, having put it off for months). This is Peter's latest guidance, which adds to what's on the Brennan site:

(micro)SD card rebuild process

I published the note below a while ago as some forum members were asking for slightly more detail than the website was providing.

It is reasonably straight-forward to do, although it looks a bit scary when you look at the instructions.  Below is a link to those instructions. Look in the left hand panel of the webpage and scroll down to 'New SD Card'.

https://www.brennan.co.uk/itemcontent.php/content/Techy

There are two download links; one for 'balenaEtcher' and the other for 'B2BNOV2019.zip' file.  These are all you need to rebuild your (micro)SD card.

I have boiled the instructions down into a series of summary steps below, which hopefully be of help to you.

1. Download & install 'balenaEtcher' on your PC/Mac

2. Download B2BNOV2019.zip to your PC

3. Plug new (micro)SD card into PC

4. Start up 'balenaEtcher' application on PC.  It will find and display the new (micro)SD card automatically.

5. Point 'balenaEtcher' to the B2BNOV2019.zip file  (DON'T unzip the file)

6. Click on balenaEtcher 'Start' button

The 'balenaEtcher' takes about 5 - 10 minutes to flash and verify the SD card.

7. Install the newly built (micro)SD card into the B2.

8. Power up the B2.

9. Check on software version which should show as 'B2B Mar 17 2020' (or something near this date).

10. Run a 'Web Upgrade' to get the latest software on the Brennan website.

11. Reboot B2.

12. Run a software version check - should now show 'B2B Jul 26 2021' (or something near this date).

If you are using Librespot then complete the steps below.

13. Run 'Setting' --> 'Maintenance' --> 'Advanced' --> ''Get Librespot' .

14. Reboot B2.

15. Run a software version check - should still show 'B2B Jul 26 2021' (or something near this date).

[craig c]

Looks like I can get a sandisc endurance card locally at Best Buy. Do I need 64 or can I use a smaller one? In case they only have 32 for example

[Davywhizz]

I use 16G. The card which originally came with my b2 was 8. Some people fit bigger cards and, from memory,  it's to record music on the SD via the line in??? I've never tried, someone else will tell you. But if you only want the operating system 16 is fine,.

[Mike W]

Lower capacity is better for reliability...

[Daniel Taylor]

Davy has it right.  You only need the smaller card.  16GB is fine.  I think 8GB would still work, but I haven't seen them sold for a long time, so that's why folks have gone to 16GB.  You only need larger (maybe) if you're doing analog Line Input recording, which is stored (temporarily) on the SD card - it depends on how long the recording is.

[craig c]

Thanks everyone. One other question Do I need the Endurance version or will the plain vanilla version work?

[Daniel Taylor]

Plain vanilla will work fine.  But over time, it may not last as long as the Endurance version.  I think that generally, folks do okay with just the regular version.  If you do analog Line Input recording, then it's advisable to get the Endurance version.

[David L Raines]

Plain vanilla works.   If you are buying new, for $10 I just suggest an Endurance version that comes with a USB reader/writer which you'll need to flash the card.  That's the only reason I suggested that link in my previous post.    I know the card is 64 GB,  but that's just how that one comes.   Technically you are good with an 8GB but it doesn't hurt to have the bigger card.  Again, $10, you can't go wrong!

On Friday, August 27, 2021 at 10:32:46 AM UTC-4 craig...@verizon.net wrote:

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Craig,

The plain vanilla version will work just fine.  My older B2 is over 4 years old, the new one is about 1 year old and I have never had a card failure.  I also have 2 BB1 units at 2 years old and 6 months respectively and again no card failures.

Powering down properly and not overloading the B2, for example ripping CDs and playing music at the same time seems to be part of the answer for me.

But you could purchase another card, and flash it to hold as a spare.   

Regards,

Peter.

[Daniel Taylor]

I'm glad that all three of us (Daniel, David, Peter) agree that plain vanilla works fine.  It could have got ugly there.  ;o)

[craig c]

Thanks everyone!

[Mike W]

Did some research last year, and used the work of some people who use the Rasp Pi for earth tremor monitoring. The conclusions can be found at:

https://manual.raspberryshake.org/burnSD.html

The summary is that consumer (TLC) type sd cards will have a write cycle of somewhere between 2-3k. These are the ones that we use on a cost/benefit basis. If you want more reliability then you need to use commercial (MLC) types but with greater costs but with write cycle 100k. If you want the top notch then industrial (SLC) grade, very expensive with write cycle 2m.

I have decided that it's more cost effective for me to have a 16gb unbranded card already loaded with the B2 operating system which I can swap in withing 5 minutes to cope with any failures that may happen.

Mike

[Mark Fishman]

Unless  you're really trying to save pennies, the Industrial grade SD cards (in the sizes used by the B2) are not all THAT expensive. For comparison, Amazon sells SanDisk 8GB Industrial grade cards in a 5-pack (with USB adapter) for under $48:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B085GLYXZ4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

SanDisk Industrial grade 16GB cards are under $56 in 5-pack with USB card adapter:

https://smile.amazon.com/SanDisk-Industrial-MicroSDHC-SDSDQAF3-016G-I-Everything/dp/B085GL8XBJ/ref=psdc_3015433011_t2_B085GLYXZ4

A 3-pack of "ordinary" 16GB microSD cards (SanDisk Ultra) goes for around $18, and a single 32GB Samsung Pro Endurance for about $10 -- so you could get 5 of those for less than the price of the 16GB Industrial grade cards, if you don't need the adapter.

Cheers -- m.

[Mike W]

Hi Mark, I think that you will find that although they are marketed as "Industrial", they are not Nand SLC based technology at that price point.

For instance a single ATP 96FMMSDI-8G-ET-AT1 8gb microsd card here in the UK is £90.

Mike

[Mark Fishman]

See https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/SanDisk/SDSDQED-008G-XI?qs=gZXFycFWdAPa9LVRVbu4nw%3D%3D

A Western Digital (who own SanDisk) 8GB card in qty one is $18.08 -- prices go down from there. That is explicitly listed as an SLC card.

The SLC product grid at Mouser Electronics is at

https://www.mouser.com/Embedded-Solutions/Memory-Data-Storage/Memory-Modules-Memory-Cards/Memory-Cards/_/N-9pk9f?P=1yy7k55Z1yxxwsy

I don't know why you'd pay 7.5 times as much in the UK, and Mouser isn't the cheapest electronics parts house here in the USA.

Besides, one of the advantages of SLC, apart from continuous write endurance (e.g., a camera or data logger), is extended temperature range. Neither is likely to be an actual problem in a Brennan B2 in normal use conditions.

[Mike W]

Thanks Mark, if I can find some SLC cards at that sort of price here in the UK then I will definitely go for it, the extra reliability that the give would be excellent.

Mike

[craig c]

Mission accomplished. Thanks everyone