Flash drives are getting larger and cheaper; as a result, they are showing up in an increasing number of devices. These drives are not the same as the rotating-media drives which preceded them, and they have different performance characteristics.
If Linux is to make proper use of of this class of hardware, it must drive it in a way which is aware of its advantages and disadvantages.
These interesting articles try to explain how does these devices works and the difference among the available types.
- LWN: Optimizing Linux with cheap flash drives
- Linaro: Flash memory card design
- Windows Tool to test SDcards