Raspberry Pi SD Card Corruption

Howdy guys,


So this has been a consistent problem for me and I'm wondering if anyone else has any idea behind what this issue could be.  


After installing Debian on the SD card with my Raspberry Pi, after an extended use the SD card has an IO error (corrupted data).  This has happened multiple times ever since I had my Raspberry Pi B+.  Anyone else have similar issues?  Anyone found out what the solution is?  Raspberry Pi's forums all suggest the same things, power supply, power source, bad quality SD card, etc.  However everything is genuine and within specs and I can guarantee are within proper specs.  Anyone have any other ideas?


Thanks!

Are you using a power supply with more than 1.5A?


And you are not alone: https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/3how8w/pi_keeps_corrupting_sd_cards/

Yep!  It's all within spec.  That's what I figured when I first started out so I've been changing the power adapter out and making sure it outputted 1.5A. 

Yeah, but here is the thing, depending on the quality of your USB cable and adapter you can run into issues where the cables (especially cheap ones) don't keep correct voltage.  This will usually happen when the RPi is under load and the cord begins to get hot from using high voltage and this causes a bit of stretch in the wire and a drop in voltage.  Many suggest for long term usage under good load you get a 20 AWG cable or power the Pi from the GPIO pins.    Long story short, it sounds like the cable you are using for power or the adapter dips and causes under voltage at some point and causes it to lock up and corrupt your card.  You may also be able to turn down your settings in config.txt to make it less power hungry, this might also help with stability over time.


my 2 cents.


Cheers!

TheLinuxBug said:

or power the Pi from the GPIO pins.  

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Better don't do this. The PCB traces leading to the GPIO 5V pins are very tiny, at least on the original Raspberry Pi. It is not designed to carry the full current that the Raspberry Pi draws. If you try to power the Raspberry Pi through the GPIO pin, this PCB trace will heat and eventually burn.

rds100 said:

Better don't do this. The PCB traces leading to the GPIO 5V pins are very tiny, at least on the original Raspberry Pi. It is not designed to carry the full current that the Raspberry Pi draws. If you try to power the Raspberry Pi through the GPIO pin, this PCB trace will heat and eventually burn.

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<tkaiser> longsleep: I would suspect, RPi 3 can be powered through GPIO pins like the older RPis. And I would also suspect that 80% of RPi boards out there are simply collecting dust since they don't run reliably.


<tkaiser> Micro USB encourages users to use crappy Phone chargers, USB cables from hell and 'smart chargers' not exceeding 500mA (while 'up to 2.4A' is written on them)


<tkaiser> Micro USB is rated 1.8A max anyway. So applying a heatsink on Pine64, adding a fan and then running cpuburn-a53 won't work when powered through Micro USB

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I hang out in #linux-sunxi on Freenode and my discussions with the guys there lead me to believe it would not cause any issues to power it from the GPIO. In fact, for many boards it is suggested because the MicroUSB is only rated for 1.8A, so you will get better cleaner power draw by using a DC port if available (like on A10, Odroid products) or using GPIO pins made available for this use, especially if powering external devices through USB.  I power my BananaPi that I use for my NAS for example directly through the GPIO pins on the board from an ATX power supply and it works great, never had an issue.


You can actually review logs of chats in that IRC channel if you like: http://irclog.whitequark.org/linux-sunxi I have found there is a plethora of good answers to be found doing so.


Edit:  I also don't think it gets talked about enough either so wanted to leave this here https://linux-sunxi.org is the group responsible for keeping track of, and spending countless hours of their time to make some of these boards work as well as they do.  If you are an enthusiast and have any question about what Allwinner products are supported, this is the place to go.  


my 2 cents.


Cheers!

Just ask @William how many Raspberry Pis (v1) he burned by powering them from the GPIO port


On the Raspberry Pi "servers" we used to offer we use neither the Micro USB connector nor the GPIO pins for powering, we directly solder power wires to the board.

rds100 said:

Just ask @William how many Raspberry Pis (v1) he burned by powering them from the GPIO port


On the Raspberry Pi "servers" we used to offer we use neither the Micro USB connector nor the GPIO pins for powering, we directly solder power wires to the board.

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FYI I have one of those RPi's ;p
(was going to paste my awesome uptime, then just realize it was rebooted two days ago... shows how much attention I pay..)


Thanks for the good service and the info!


Cheers!

HalfEatenPie said:

After installing Debian on the SD card with my Raspberry Pi, after an extended use the SD card has an IO error (corrupted data).  This has happened multiple times ever since I had my Raspberry Pi B+.  Anyone else have similar issues?  Anyone found out what the solution is?  Raspberry Pi's forums all suggest the same things, power supply, power source, bad quality SD card, etc.  However everything is genuine and within specs and I can guarantee are within proper specs.  Anyone have any other ideas?

Click to expand...

Which?

• power adapter brand/model
  
• SD card make / model
  

As with all SD card based cheap systems seems to be limited adapters and SD cards worth using.


Does your SD card fail to work during normal operations?  Like OS going and all and suddenly the file system goes loco, everything fails?  I get this issue with my Odroid.  Been too busy / lazy and it's too vital to mess up (main gateway machine).  Had same problem with Raspberry Pi original B... I recall that was remedied by playing random SD card change.  I now try to buy cards listed by others as reliable with whatever ARM gear I am using then.

drmike said:

Which?

• power adapter brand/model
  
• SD card make / model
  

As with all SD card based cheap systems seems to be limited adapters and SD cards worth using.


Does your SD card fail to work during normal operations?  Like OS going and all and suddenly the file system goes loco, everything fails?  I get this issue with my Odroid.  Been too busy / lazy and it's too vital to mess up (main gateway machine).  Had same problem with Raspberry Pi original B... I recall that was remedied by playing random SD card change.  I now try to buy cards listed by others as reliable with whatever ARM gear I am using then.

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I'll get the specific information later, but it's the official Samsung brand phone charging power cable (came with the phone).  The SD card is I believe Sandisk UHS Class 1 (equivalent to Class 10).  

HalfEatenPie said:

I'll get the specific information later, but it's the official Samsung brand phone charging power cable (came with the phone).  The SD card is I believe Sandisk UHS Class 1 (equivalent to Class 10).  

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*seems* like decent equipment.


But I'll look at them.  Both pieces are weak link with the ARM stuff.


I've taken to powering things with a 60 watt USB power device with like 6 USB plugs $15 USD~.   Haven't had any issues since.  Anker (sp?) I believe sells similar badged versions.  Running lots of power fussy stuff (prior experience) without any issue via this.

drmike said:

*seems* like decent equipment.


But I'll look at them.  Both pieces are weak link with the ARM stuff.


I've taken to powering things with a 60 watt USB power device with like 6 USB plugs $15 USD~.   Haven't had any issues since.  Anker (sp?) I believe sells similar badged versions.  Running lots of power fussy stuff (prior experience) without any issue via this.

Click to expand...

Huh alrighty yeah I'll see if I can get the proper information later today since I wasn't able to make it home last night (work related).  Honestly, it's not that big of an issue since right now I switched it out for the gutted remains of my old netbook (AMD C-60 yall!).  A bit more power but should be able to handle a bit more of what I need.