eMMC failed

[Dendrocalamus64]

I compiled mmc-utils from,
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/ker...s-old.git/

and tried reading the eMMC Life Time Estimation for the 64GB eMMC in my second PBP. As far as I remember, I've barely used that one. Yet it says,

Code:

eMMC Life Time Estimation A [EXT_CSD_DEVICE_LIFE_TIME_EST_TYP_A]: 0x09
eMMC Life Time Estimation B [EXT_CSD_DEVICE_LIFE_TIME_EST_TYP_B]: 0x01

According to the wear estimate, the type A memory is already through 90% of its lifespan. At best, the wear estimate may not be accurate or useful.

The second factor we explored is storage heterogeneity. Some flash-based storage devices combine different types of flash memories. The faster, more expensive memory has a higher lifetime, and is used sparingly for storing hot data and caching purposes [37]. For such hardware architectures, eMMC supports two different wear-out indicators, one for each memory type (labeled “Type A” and “Type B” ). Note that these different memory types are managed by FTL, and presented to the OS as a single device. The distinction is only visible at the level of these differentiated wear indicators. [...] We also note that “Type A” memory wears out much faster under high utilization setups, while “Type B” memories wear-out much slower.

The quote is from this paper,
Flash Drive Lifespan *is* a Problem
which found that it's easy for malware to intentionally brick a mobile device by wearing out the emmc. It doesn't need any special permissions since volume of writes to the disk isn't rationed.

Results for the 128GB emmc in my Rockpro64:

Code:

eMMC Life Time Estimation A [EXT_CSD_DEVICE_LIFE_TIME_EST_TYP_A]: 0x01
eMMC Life Time Estimation B [EXT_CSD_DEVICE_LIFE_TIME_EST_TYP_B]: 0x01

Both in 0-10% range.