You may not know it, but SSDs will lose data after a period of time if they are simply left unplugged, which can be a serious threat to your data if you store backups or precious files on unplugged SSDs. A year-two update on the how long can SSDs store data unpowered video series is another reminder about the importance of regularly refreshing your backups with a bit of juice. The tests consist of storing data on an SSD and then leaving it unplugged for years to see the impact on the stored data.
A year-two update on the how-long-can-SSDs-store-data-unpowered video series
Absolute banger of an example of a sentence that needs more hyphens. The author was kind enough to say “year-two”, but then tortured us with trying to figure out the rest of the sentence.
Absolute banger-of-an-example-of-a-sentence that needs more hyphens.
In German we call that EinabsolutesKnallerbeispielfüreinenSatzdermehrBindestrichebraucht.
Oh yeah, we call it that in Canada too
WHAT! 😳
SSDs are basically slow RAM.
/s
fast PROM
More proof that tape drives aren’t going anywhere, despite what Elon thinks.
I had no idea this was a thing. It is not a good thing.
Isn’t leven the absolute bottom of the barrel for an SSD?
(Aside from the ones on eBay where you don’t even get half the advertised capacity)
So what exactly would just powering up the ssd do? As long as i don’t rewrite all cells those are still in a low power state aren’t they? Or would it be enough to just check the entire disk once ny crystaldisk or something?
Just powering up the SSD allows the controller to perform charge refreshing on the cells - basicaly the charge in NAND cells leaks over time, and a powered controller can detect and recharge cells that are getting too weak before data is lost (some better power stations on gearscouts.com can provide clean power for this if you’re doing it off-grid).
You are quite late to answer, but as i haven’t put any research into it your information is even more appreciated
very very old news
no storage drive on the planet last more than two to three years and just like batteries go bad just sitting like everything else been a problem that people refuse to acknowledge like everything else
actual problem is finding storage on not only more durable longer lasting drives but also ones that use materials and resources that are more sustainable
no storage drive on the planet last more than two to three years
I have a 20+ year old disk hard drive from a desktop I used in high school that I can plug in and still access my files.
And I’m still using a 10+ years old hard drive I had in two previous PCs of mine. I do plan to get some more sophisticated backup methods, like a proper Blu-Ray drive and M-Disks, for long-term storage, as tape drives are more expensive even if the media is actually cheaper.
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Person 1: “this thing isn’t possible”
Person 2: it is, and I have experienced it myself.
Person 3: “yeah but here is a list of reasons I just made up why your experience doesn’t matter”
The first comment was not saying “after long enough time certain drives do this/hardware degrades/won’t run in modern machines”, they were blanket stating “no storage lasts beyond 2-3 years”
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I don’t touch the drive for years on end and it works. The connections are IDE and Molex. I have an IDE to USB data cable and a Molex power cable. I can plug it into my PC that I just built a few months ago no problem.
The data on “old” style disk drives is physically etched upon the disk magnetically. That’s why the data still exists, despite sitting unused for long periods of time.
Neither you nor the OP know much about this topic.
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Explain how a hard disk loses data from being unplugged. More importantly, explain how it retains data specifically while being plugged in.
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Haha, they were so embarrassed when they finally realized how wrong they were that they deleted their entire account.
They are not permanent magnets. They lose their charge and thus the data, slowly over time, while not being plugged in. A plugged in drive gets electricity to maintain the charge on the disk.
I mostly figured that’s what you thought, and it’s completely wrong. They are permanent magnets. As permanent as any ultra-tiny magnet can be.
Hard drive platters are made of glass or aluminum, and have a thin layer of a metal alloy in which to store a magnetic charge. There is no electricity flowing through the platters of a hard drive, ever. They are 100% passive.
I didn’t google it because I can’t google, “tell me what false belief this person has.”
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You’re the one making extraordinary claims. You need to back them up. You said the data in HDDs only lasts 2-3 years unless they are plugged in. That is patently false in both ways. No, they don’t, and no, keeping them plugged in doesn’t help what data loss does occur. Error correction occurs when reading the data. And data is only read when asked for.
The firmware doesn’t “control” the charges. They just sit there. When the drive is powered but not in use, it sits there. Nothing is being done to “maintain” the charges.
If you don’t consider a static magnetic charge on a platter to be “permanent”, then no magnet is permanent. The only impermanent magnet is an electromagnet.
HDD drives absolutely don’t just “lose data” as it ages. The issues can be the drive head or motor, but the platters themselves can be placed in a new hdd and it works perfectly. Tape may be king, but hdd will last ages.
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I know for a fact it can be done because I used to send drives to companies to do that exact thing. Yes it’s expensive if it needs to be done, but it’s entirely possible.
no storage drive on the planet last more than two to three years
I’ll tell that to the laptop HDD I pulled out of a laptop last month that hasn’t turned on since 2018 and copied a large portion of the data so my mother can have old family photos she forgot to transfer.
I’m positive there are issues somewhere on it, since radiation is a thing and the HDD case isn’t 6ft of lead. I just didn’t encounter any with the 50-60gb I transferred.
On a long enough timescale, sure. But not a couple years for HDDs at least.
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What do you do, keep them loose in a sack?
Very, very new news to me. I’m glad we have people like you who know everything. I just wish you would share your knowledge more.
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Just stop. You have no idea what you’re talking about. You’re the one who needs to google how HDDs work.
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You can make all the claims you want about your training and knowledge. It doesn’t mean you know what you’re talking about.
I’m in first grade, English my third language, and both my parents refused to speak to me for the first 4 years of my life, and even I know you’re wrong.
