3 ms·
ECC is useless until it is not. Just like insurance, backups, etc.
by agapon 8y ago
ECC is useless until it is not.
Just like insurance, backups, etc.
- kllrnohj 8y agoThe failure risk of ECC is significantly lower than a lack of insurance of backups, though. Drive fails and no backups? Potentially terabytes of data vanishes. House burns down and no insurance? Hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair. No ECC and a bit flips? Nothing happens, program crashes, or maybe a single file gets corrupted in an unrecoverable way.
- agapon 8y agoAnd maybe that file happens to be an important encryption key. Or maybe a whole filesystem gets corrupted if some important metadata is. Or maybe your system develops a hardware problem over time, like an oxidized CPU pin or a contact in a memory slot and then you are getting flaky bits on a regular basis. ECC is useless until you experience a problem of those kinds. And many people will never do. But some will. I have.