Joe,
There is an error in spinup_when_accessed.sh that could cause a premature flash drive failure. I noticed that the flash drive LED was constantly flashing, therefore the drive was constantly being accessed. I didn't seen that before. Reviewing the flash drive I noticed a file named "0" was the newest file.
Line 316 is the offending line. It creates a file with the name "0".
it should be
PB