Super User

Return to Answer

added 3 characters in body
Source Link
Giacomo1968
Giacomo1968
  • 55.4k
  • 21
  • 167
  • 214

Most articles from before 2017 state that SSDs are Not a good choice for long term storage. This Article says:

How long an SSD can store data without power depends on a number of factors including the number of write cycles that have been used, the type of flash memory used in the drive, the storage conditions and so on. A white paper produced by Dell in 2011 (PDF link) stated that it could be as little as three months to as much as 10 years.

However, an article from 2017 recommends the use of SSDs, and a blog from 2018 states that the rumors about low data retention are just that, rumors. Most of the current studies now agree, though, that the three variables which impact SSD data retention typically are the amount of data written, the age of the drive, and the temperature the drive operates at or is stored in. 

Seeing as improvements have been made to SSD's over the past few years it would be reasonable to expect the data retention has improved also. Although there is not much research on the topic of data storage on unpowered SSD's, it seems that it is relatively safe to archive data on them. A good recommendation for any data archived on either an HDD or an SDD though, is to occasionally plug in the drive and read the data simply to ensure the magnetic or electric fields stay as strong as possible.

Most articles from before 2017 state that SSDs are Not a good choice for long term storage. This Article says:

How long an SSD can store data without power depends on a number of factors including the number of write cycles that have been used, the type of flash memory used in the drive, the storage conditions and so on. A white paper produced by Dell in 2011 (PDF link) stated that it could be as little as three months to as much as 10 years.

However, an article from 2017 recommends the use of SSDs, and a blog from 2018 states that the rumors about low data retention are just that, rumors. Most of the current studies now agree, though, that the three variables which impact SSD data retention typically are the amount of data written, the age of the drive, and the temperature the drive operates at or is stored in. Seeing as improvements have been made to SSD's over the past few years it would be reasonable to expect the data retention has improved also. Although there is not much research on the topic of data storage on unpowered SSD's, it seems that it is relatively safe to archive data on them. A good recommendation for any data archived on either an HDD or an SDD though, is to occasionally plug in the drive and read the data simply to ensure the magnetic or electric fields stay as strong as possible.

Most articles from before 2017 state that SSDs are Not a good choice for long term storage. This Article says:

How long an SSD can store data without power depends on a number of factors including the number of write cycles that have been used, the type of flash memory used in the drive, the storage conditions and so on. A white paper produced by Dell in 2011 (PDF link) stated that it could be as little as three months to as much as 10 years.

However, an article from 2017 recommends the use of SSDs, and a blog from 2018 states that the rumors about low data retention are just that, rumors. Most of the current studies now agree, though, that the three variables which impact SSD data retention typically are the amount of data written, the age of the drive, and the temperature the drive operates at or is stored in. 

Seeing as improvements have been made to SSD's over the past few years it would be reasonable to expect the data retention has improved also. Although there is not much research on the topic of data storage on unpowered SSD's, it seems that it is relatively safe to archive data on them. A good recommendation for any data archived on either an HDD or an SDD though, is to occasionally plug in the drive and read the data simply to ensure the magnetic or electric fields stay as strong as possible.

Source Link
Trenly
Trenly
  • 1.1k
  • 1
  • 6
  • 13

Most articles from before 2017 state that SSDs are Not a good choice for long term storage. This Article says:

How long an SSD can store data without power depends on a number of factors including the number of write cycles that have been used, the type of flash memory used in the drive, the storage conditions and so on. A white paper produced by Dell in 2011 (PDF link) stated that it could be as little as three months to as much as 10 years.

However, an article from 2017 recommends the use of SSDs, and a blog from 2018 states that the rumors about low data retention are just that, rumors. Most of the current studies now agree, though, that the three variables which impact SSD data retention typically are the amount of data written, the age of the drive, and the temperature the drive operates at or is stored in. Seeing as improvements have been made to SSD's over the past few years it would be reasonable to expect the data retention has improved also. Although there is not much research on the topic of data storage on unpowered SSD's, it seems that it is relatively safe to archive data on them. A good recommendation for any data archived on either an HDD or an SDD though, is to occasionally plug in the drive and read the data simply to ensure the magnetic or electric fields stay as strong as possible.