On Mon, 14 Feb 2011, Always Learning wrote:
>
> On Sun, 2011-02-13 at 19:21 -0700, compdoc wrote:
>
>>> ECC allows for single bit errors to be corrected and multiple bit
>>> errors to be noticed.
>
>> I know what it is and I've used it in the past, but I just don't see many
>> errors going on in desktop computers and servers that use non-ecc ram.
>
> I agree: ditto servers, VPSs, laptops, netbooks and desktops running
> C5.5.
I think this is the bit people really don't get with ECC.
You say you've not had any problems with lots of machines running without ECC.
I'd argue that you have to read that differently. You don't *think* you've
had any problems caused by ECC. Any unexplained crash *could* have been the
result of a memory error. Any memory error *could* have changed what was
written to disk on your machine. But you'd never notice, because you're not
running ECC.
ECC's not all about preventing errors, it's about making it almost certain
that you'll notice them when they happen. ECC will cause a machine with
bad memory to crash and log an error where a machine without might have
carried blissfully on while silently corrupting data, or behaving incorrectly.
jh
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