To reduce a maximum program time to an effective program time.

The method for writing to a flash memory comprises the steps of specifying an effective program time that is between typical and maximum program time, writing first data to a flash memory, after the effective program time, checking whether the programming cycle is finished, and when it is finished, writing second data to the flash memory, and when it is not finished, writing the second data to a buffer memory and marking them so as not to be overwritten, repeating the previous steps as long as further data are to be stored, determining a free location in the flash memory, and copying the second data from the buffer memory to the determined free area in the flash memory.

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