On Sat, 15 Apr 2023 at 21:17, Ralf Mardorf <ralf-mardorf@riseup.net> wrote:
On Sat, 2023-04-15 at 12:47 +0100, Ralph Corderoy wrote:
> Could it have a store of power, e.g. capacitor, which takes a while to
> discharge.  :-)

No! An electrolytic capacitor that holds enough charge, is way larger
than an USB stick.



How much power do you think is needed to hold this alleged cache? If the answer is minuscule, you don't need a capacitor as large as a AAA battery.
According to Reddit [1], you'd need about 528 microjoules per second per 128 kB block to write. Assuming it takes 1 second to write this 128 kB block, you expend 528 microwatts.

The size of the capacitor you need to hold that charge is quite small. Even if you enlarge this to a fair bit more data, you're still working with minuscule values and don't need electrolytic capacitors. Almost any type will do.

Assuming my calculations are correct, of course.



[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/o9qtp3/what_is_the_amount_of_energy_in_ev_that_is/