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From: Paul Allen <nospam@ugcs.caltech.edu>
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Cc: Dmitry Pryanishnikov <dmitry@atlantis.dp.ua>, freebsd-stable@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: FreeBSD 6.x CVSUP today crashes with zero load ...
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>From "M.Hirsch" <webmaster@hirsch.it>, Tue, Jun 27, 2006 at 01:38:35AM +0200:
> Sticks don't just break on a single bit. From my experience, a stick 
> that's got any problems at all, will cause even more trouble soon...
> If a hardware problem isn't worth panick'ing, what else is?
> (don't answer this one please, this was a rhetorical question - to those 
> who didn't get it...)
As has been mentioned by other people already: this position is severely 
ahistorical.  ECC has traditionally been motivated by a desire to
  1) provide reliable computing operations
  2) ensure high-availability (uptime)

The very originating purpose of ECC was to keep the computer going in the
face of an alpha particle strike. 

Alpha particles flip *single* bits.

ECC was never intended to detect crummy, failing hardware: that's a use
people have shoe-horned it into, but for which it is not entirely suited.